Nahla
A feminine Arabic name meaning "palm tree" or "shoot of a plant".
Name Census estimates that about 3,148 living Americans carry the first name Nahla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nahla today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nahla births was 2011 (306 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nahla. 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 Nahla with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Nahla is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 108,880 Americans
Peak year
2011
306 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,676
Tracked since 1977
Census
Nahla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,873 people with the first name Nahla, which placed it at #5,792 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
#5,792
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,873 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nahla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nahla is White at 38.0%. The next largest groups are Black (37.7%) and Two or More Races (11.3%). 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 Nahla 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 Nahla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.0% · 1,093
- Black or African American37.7% · 1,082
- Two or more races11.3% · 326
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 314
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 47
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 11
Popularity
Nahla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nahla 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 2,129 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nahla 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 Nahla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nahlas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Nahla, while North Dakota, Colorado, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 75 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nahla
The name Nahla is of Arabic origin, derived from the word "nahlah," which means "bee" or "honeybee" in Arabic. It is a feminine name that has been in use for centuries in the Arab world.
The earliest recorded use of the name Nahla can be traced back to the 7th century CE, when it was mentioned in several Arabic literary works and historical records. It is believed that the name was inspired by the significance of bees in Arabic culture, where they are seen as symbols of diligence, hard work, and sweetness.
In the 9th century CE, the name Nahla gained popularity among Arab scholars and poets. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Nahla al-Ansariya, a renowned poet and author who lived in Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate. She was known for her poetic works and her contributions to Arabic literature.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nahla. In the 12th century, Nahla bint al-Faraj was a prominent physician and scholar in Aleppo, Syria. She was renowned for her expertise in medicine and her contributions to the field of pharmacology.
In the 20th century, Nahla Moukaddem was a famous Lebanese singer and actress who rose to fame in the 1960s and 1970s. She was known for her powerful vocals and her performances in various Arabic musicals and films.
Another notable bearer of the name was Nahla Chahal, a Syrian-American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded the successful technology company, Mogl. She was born in 1980 and has been recognized for her contributions to the technology industry.
Nahla Haidar, born in 1976, is a renowned Lebanese fashion designer and artist. Her fashion label, NAHLA, has gained international recognition for its unique blend of traditional Arabic elements with contemporary designs.
The name Nahla has been associated with grace, beauty, and sweetness, reflecting the symbolism of the bee in Arabic culture. It continues to be a popular choice for baby girls in the Arab world and among Arab communities around the globe.
People
Nahla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nahla as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nahla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nahla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,148 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nahla 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 108,880 US residents.
Is Nahla a common name?
We classify Nahla as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,176 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nahla most popular?
The single biggest year for Nahla was 2011, when 306 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nahla is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nahla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,873 people with the name Nahla, or 0.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,792 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 Nahla 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 Nahla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nahla appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,866 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Nahla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nahla is White at 38.0%. The next largest groups are Black (37.7%) and Two or More Races (11.3%). 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 Nahla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nahla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.0% (1,093 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 Nahla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nahla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nahla 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 Nahla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nahla 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 Nahla 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 are named Nahla?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.