Khalia
A feminine Arabic name meaning "worthy", "valuable", or "eternal".
Name Census estimates that about 3,417 living Americans carry the first name Khalia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Khalia today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khalia births was 2019 (182 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khalia. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Khalia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Khalia is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.4K
~ 1 in 100,309 Americans
Peak year
2019
182 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
1995 SSA rank
#1,897
Tracked since 1976
Census
Khalia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,332 people with the first name Khalia, which placed it at #6,767 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,767
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,332 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khalia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalia is Black at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.1%) and Two or More Races (8.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Khalia described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Khalia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.9% · 1,747
- Hispanic or Latino10.1% · 235
- Two or more races8.6% · 200
- White4.6% · 108
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Khalia
Out of the 3,472 babies given the name Khalia since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Khalia as a male name
- Ranked #7,421 in 1995
- 7 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1995 (7 births)
Khalia as a female name
- Ranked #1,897 in 2024
- 105 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (182 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khalia leans strongly female. 2,281 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 58 male bearers (2.5%).
Popularity
Khalia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khalia from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,204 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Khalia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Khalia by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Khalia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Khalias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Khalia, while Oklahoma, New Mexico, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 77 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Khalia
The name Khalia is believed to have originated from the Arabic language, with its roots tracing back to the Middle Eastern and North African regions. The name is derived from the Arabic word "khali," which means "aunt" or "paternal aunt." This suggests that the name may have been initially given to honor or commemorate a respected and beloved aunt within a family or community.
During the medieval era, the name Khalia gained prominence across parts of the Islamic world, particularly in regions where Arabic was the predominant language. It is possible that the name appeared in some historical texts or records from that time period, although specific references are scarce due to the limited documentation from those eras.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Khalia can be traced back to the 12th century. Khalia al-Andalusiya was a renowned Andalusian poet and scholar who lived in the city of Seville, which was then part of the Almoravid Empire. Her literary works, particularly her poetry, were highly celebrated and contributed to the rich cultural legacy of the region.
In the 15th century, Khalia al-Nabulsi, a notable Islamic scholar and jurist, was born in the city of Nablus, which is located in present-day Palestine. She was renowned for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her teachings, which influenced many scholars and students of her time.
Another historical figure bearing the name Khalia was Khalia bint al-Azhar, an 8th-century Arabian poet and literary figure. She was highly regarded for her poetic skills and her contributions to the preservation of Arabic literature during the Abbasid Caliphate.
Khalia al-Baghdadi, a 13th-century scholar and philosopher, hailed from Baghdad, which was a center of intellectual and cultural activity during the Islamic Golden Age. Her writings on philosophy, metaphysics, and Islamic theology were widely studied and discussed among scholars of her era.
In the 16th century, Khalia al-Malikiya was a prominent Ottoman calligrapher and artist. Her intricate and beautiful calligraphic works were highly acclaimed, and she is considered one of the most accomplished female calligraphers of the Ottoman Empire.
While the name Khalia may have experienced varying levels of popularity throughout different historical periods and regions, its rich cultural heritage and connection to influential figures in literature, scholarship, and the arts have undoubtedly contributed to its enduring legacy.
People
Khalia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khalia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Khalia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khalia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,417 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khalia going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 100,309 US residents.
Is Khalia a common name?
We classify Khalia as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,472 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khalia most popular?
The single biggest year for Khalia was 2019, when 182 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khalia is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khalia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,332 people with the name Khalia, or 0.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,767 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Khalia in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Khalia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khalia leans strongly female. 2,281 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 58 male bearers (2.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Khalia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khalia is Black at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.1%) and Two or More Races (8.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Khalia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Khalia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (1,747 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Khalia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khalia a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Khalia in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Khalia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khalia in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Khalia can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Khalia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.