Nalah
An Arabic name meaning "one who attains" or "high achievement".
Name Census estimates that about 962 living Americans carry the first name Nalah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nalah today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nalah births was 2020 (78 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nalah. 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 Nalah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
962
~ 1 in 356,293 Americans
Peak year
2020
78 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,339
Tracked since 1995
Census
Nalah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 534 people with the first name Nalah, which placed it at #19,684 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
#19,684
National first-name rank
People counted
534
534 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nalah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nalah is Black at 53.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.4%) and Two or More Races (13.9%). 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 Nalah 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 Nalah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.4% · 285
- Hispanic or Latino18.4% · 98
- Two or more races13.9% · 74
- White10.9% · 58
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 9
Popularity
Nalah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nalah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 555 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nalah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nalah 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 Nalah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nalahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Nalah, while Wisconsin, Virginia, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nalah
The name Nalah is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is one of the earliest known Indo-Aryan languages spoken in ancient India. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "nala," which means "stem" or "reed." It is speculated that the name was initially used to describe someone who was slender and graceful, much like a reed.
The earliest recorded usage of the name Nalah can be traced back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, particularly the epic Mahabharata. In this ancient Sanskrit text, Nala is the name of a virtuous king who is known for his wisdom, courage, and devotion to his wife, Damayanti. The story of Nala and Damayanti is a celebrated tale of love, loyalty, and perseverance in Indian literature.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nalah or its variations. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Nala, a famous Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived during the 5th century CE. He is renowned for his contributions to the field of mathematics, particularly in the development of the decimal number system.
Another prominent individual named Nalah was a 12th-century Sufi poet and mystic from Persia (present-day Iran). His poetic works, which often explored themes of spirituality and divine love, have been widely celebrated and continue to influence Persian literature to this day.
In the 16th century, there was a notable figure named Nala Nath, who was a Hindu saint and scholar from the Punjab region of India. He was known for his teachings on spiritual enlightenment and is revered by many followers of the Nath tradition.
More recently, in the 19th century, Nalah Bixiya was a prominent writer and educator from the Muskogee Creek Nation in the United States. She played a significant role in preserving the Creek language and culture through her writings and advocacy efforts.
While the name Nalah may have originated in ancient India, it has since been adopted and used in various cultures and regions around the world, each with its own unique interpretations and associations.
People
Nalah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nalah 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
Nalah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nalah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 962 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nalah 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 356,293 US residents.
Is Nalah a common name?
We classify Nalah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 970 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nalah most popular?
The single biggest year for Nalah was 2020, when 78 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nalah is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nalah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 534 people with the name Nalah, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,684 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 Nalah 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 Nalah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nalah appears almost entirely female. Of the 533 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Nalah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nalah is Black at 53.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.4%) and Two or More Races (13.9%). 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 Nalah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nalah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.4% (285 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 Nalah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nalah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nalah 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 Nalah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nalah 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 Nalah 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 Nalah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.