Jamila
Feminine · “beautiful”
Jamila is beautiful in Arabic, and the root behind it is jamal — beauty as a quality of character as much as of appearance.
How old is the name Jamila?
Jamila first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Jamila alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 8,100 people named Jamila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jamila most popular?
Jamila peaked in 1977, reaching #468 nationally. Today it ranks #1684, 1,216 places below that high. See the whole 1977 chart.
Jamila appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From jamal to Jamila
The story of Jamila
Jamila is long-established across the Arabic-speaking world and in Swahili-speaking Africa. It entered American use in significant numbers from the 1970s, part of the movement of Arabic and African names into American naming alongside Aisha, Malik and Rashida. It appears in the registers and is in current use.
Meaning
beautiful, graceful
From the Arabic jamilah, the feminine of jamil, 'beautiful', from jamal — a word that covers beauty of conduct as well as of form. Al-Jamil, 'the Beautiful', is among the names attributed to God. The word is ordinary Arabic and the meaning undisputed.
How the name formed
- jamal
- jamilah
- Jamila
Related forms: جميلة · Jamila · Cemile
Pronouncing Jamila
juh-MEE-lah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Arabic gives the final h a light breath that English drops.
Nicknames for Jamila
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 1977418 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #468reached in 1977
- Change vs 2024
- −10.9%122 in 2025, from 137
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Jamila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- جميلة in Arabic — transliteration
- Jamila in Swahili — same name
- Cemile in Turkish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Jamilas among us
people named Jamila are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 13,174 born in 2025 was named Jamila
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Jamila
- #1684
- Jamila on the 2025 chart
- #746
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Jamila went to 122 girls in 2025, but Jamilah, Jamyla and Jamylah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 215, which makes it the 746th most-given girls’ name of the year — 938 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 7,476 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 13,174 for Jamila itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Josefina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jamila's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Josefina climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Josefina's path sketches the road Jamila is walking now.
Jamila sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Jamila is headed
Jamila should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Jamila beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jamila in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The beauty meaning covers character as well as appearance, which is a better sense.
- Mila and Jami are two short forms, both with real currency.
- It is genuine in Arabic, Swahili and Turkish alike.
- Jameela and Jamilah are both established transliterations.
- Camila and Jamila are close enough in sound to cause confusion.
- It is closely dated to the 1970s and 1980s in American records.
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Jamila
Feminine · #1684 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jamilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,100 people named Jamila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Jamila?
- Jamila is the most-used spelling in US records — 122 of the 215 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Jamilah, Jamyla, Jamylah and Jamilla.
- How popular is the name Jamila in 2025?
- Jamila ranks #1684 among US girl names in 2025, with 122 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jamila?
- About 1 in every 13,174 US girls born in 2025 was named Jamila — 122 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jamila with classmates?
- Jamila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jamila
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Francis#1684 · Janae#1684 · Nechama#1684 · Soleia#1684 · Aadya#1684 · Milah#1684 · Maliah#1684 · Tahlia#1692
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jamila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jamila and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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