Jamilla
Feminine · “beautiful”
English doubles consonants that Arabic does not, and Jamilla is one of the results. Arabic writes this name with a single l and marks length in ways the Roman alphabet has no letters for; when the name is written down by English speakers, the doubling appears — partly to keep the preceding vowel short, partly because English simply likes to double. Jamila, Jamilla and Jameela are one name in three coats.
How old is the name Jamilla?
Jamilla first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Jamilla alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 1,200 people named Jamilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jamilla most popular?
Jamilla peaked in 1988, reaching #2539 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 10,669 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Where it comes from
From jamil to Jamilla
The story of Jamilla
This name reached American records by two routes at once: Arab migration, which brought it as a family name in the ordinary sense, and the deliberate adoption of Arabic names by African American families from the 1960s onward. The second stream is much the larger in the United States and explains the shape of the name's record here. The doubled l is an English orthographic habit rather than an error — English has doubled consonants after short vowels since the Middle Ages, and it applies the rule to borrowings automatically.
Meaning
beautiful
From the Arabic jamila, the feminine of the ordinary adjective jamil. It is used across the Arabic-speaking world by Muslim and Christian families alike, which is worth saying because English speakers often assume otherwise.
How the name formed
- jamil
- Jamila
- Jamilla
Related forms: Jamila · Jameela · Cemile · Džemila
Pronouncing Jamilla
juh-MEE-luh
Three syllables, stress in the middle, with the second vowel long. The doubled l makes no difference to the sound in English; in Arabic a doubled consonant would be genuinely held longer, which is one reason the transliterations vary.
Nicknames for Jamilla
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 198842 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2539reached in 1988
- Change vs 2024
- −25.0%6 in 2025, from 8
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.
Jamilla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jamila in Arabic — same name
- Jameela in Urdu — transliteration
- Cemile in Turkish — same name
- Džemila in Bosnian — same name
Jamillas among us
people named Jamilla are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Jamilla
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Jamilla
- #13208
- Jamilla on the 2025 chart
- #746
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Jamilla went to 6 girls in 2025, but Jamila, Jamilah and Jamyla 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 — 12,462 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 7,476 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Jamilla 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 Cricket test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jamilla's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Cricket climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Cricket's path sketches the road Jamilla is walking now.
Jamilla 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
Jamilla beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jamilla in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Mila is available as a short form and is one of the most current names in the country.
- The meaning is a single positive word with no ambiguity anywhere in it.
- It is recognized across the Arabic-speaking world regardless of religion.
- Three open syllables that survive any accent intact.
- Jamila is the standard transliteration and will be written instead constantly.
- The doubled l is inaudible, so the letters have to be given every time.
- Jameela and Djamila are both in use, which multiplies the confusion.
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What they receive
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Jamilla
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jamillas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Jamilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Jamilla?
- Jamilla is one of 5 recorded spellings. Jamila is the more common one — 122 births in 2025 against 6 for Jamilla.
- How popular is the name Jamilla in 2025?
- Jamilla ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jamilla?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Jamilla — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jamilla with classmates?
- Jamilla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jamilla
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jamilla? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jamilla and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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