Jelani
Jelani is given to both girls and boys: 67 girls and 67 boys were given it in 2025 (#2,595 among girls’ names and #2,156 among boys’, #2,903 among all names counting both); 5,660 Americans have been recorded with it since 1973 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,510 Americans named Jelani and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 9 and 32.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jelani by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Jelani?
#2,156 among boys’ names, 2025
Jelani fell from #1,725 in 2015 to #2,156 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 47.0 to 39.2 per million.
218 babies in 2023, the peak
Jelani peaked in 2023, when 218 babies were given it (131 boys, #1,405 among boys’ names). The 134 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 61% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 67 | #2,595 | 67 | #2,156 |
| 2024 | 88 | #2,160 | 94 | #1,756 |
| 2023 | 87 | #2,186 | 131 | #1,405 |
| 2022 | 84 | #2,235 | 129 | #1,423 |
| 2021 | 52 | #3,135 | 102 | #1,639 |
| 2020 | 41 | #3,652 | 89 | #1,738 |
| 2019 | 40 | #3,748 | 90 | #1,740 |
| 2018 | 30 | #4,611 | 84 | #1,812 |
| 2017 | 34 | #4,257 | 100 | #1,607 |
| 2016 | 23 | #5,704 | 99 | #1,623 |
Every recorded year (53)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,418 | 90 | #1,725 |
| 2014 | 10 | #10,491 | 69 | #2,048 |
| 2013 | 10 | #10,576 | 80 | #1,802 |
| 2012 | 13 | #8,848 | 87 | #1,732 |
| 2011 | 13 | #8,853 | 110 | #1,479 |
| 2010 | 9 | #11,681 | 100 | #1,580 |
| 2009 | 14 | #8,634 | 103 | #1,579 |
| 2008 | 13 | #9,200 | 99 | #1,600 |
| 2007 | 13 | #9,233 | 84 | #1,763 |
| 2006 | 13 | #8,938 | 114 | #1,397 |
| 2005 | 14 | #8,076 | 103 | #1,437 |
| 2004 | 12 | #8,933 | 128 | #1,197 |
| 2003 | 25 | #5,009 | 130 | #1,155 |
| 2002 | 15 | #7,206 | 133 | #1,101 |
| 2001 | 16 | #6,762 | 124 | #1,129 |
| 2000 | 13 | #7,759 | 143 | #1,019 |
| 1999 | 8 | #10,762 | 116 | #1,136 |
| 1998 | 22 | #4,853 | 151 | #934 |
| 1997 | 19 | #5,294 | 121 | #1,051 |
| 1996 | 25 | #4,233 | 113 | #1,075 |
| 1995 | 15 | #6,082 | 112 | #1,062 |
| 1994 | 11 | #7,817 | 102 | #1,116 |
| 1993 | 14 | #6,397 | 98 | #1,135 |
| 1992 | 12 | #7,218 | 96 | #1,121 |
| 1991 | 11 | #7,618 | 110 | #1,028 |
| 1990 | 5 | #13,876 | 82 | #1,207 |
| 1989 | 6 | #11,400 | 64 | #1,370 |
| 1988 | 6 | #10,905 | 64 | #1,282 |
| 1987 | under 5 | 62 | #1,240 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 38 | #1,676 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 38 | #1,654 | |
| 1984 | 6 | #9,608 | 58 | #1,205 |
| 1983 | under 5 | 38 | #1,575 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 61 | #1,182 | |
| 1981 | 5 | #11,056 | 54 | #1,252 |
| 1980 | 6 | #9,554 | 71 | #1,073 |
| 1979 | under 5 | 66 | #1,101 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 61 | #1,126 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 70 | #1,032 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 55 | #1,157 | |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,391 | 46 | #1,269 |
| 1974 | under 5 | 53 | #1,129 | |
| 1973 | under 5 | 36 | #1,416 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Jelani a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 5,660 Americans recorded as Jelani, 17% are girls and 83% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Jelani: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jelani, and how old are they?
5,510 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 5,660 Americans ever recorded as Jelani. The median Jelani alive today is 22 years old; half are between 9 and 32.
The 2020 Census counted 3,900 people named Jelani (413 women and girls, 3,487 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,561 born in the U.S. The Census count is 14% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 429 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,250 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,040 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,790 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Jelani born?
The states with the most babies named Jelani are Georgia, Florida and New York, with 79% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 16 | #1,035 | 1.7× |
| Florida | 13 | #1,723 | 1.2× |
| New York | 12 | #1,880 | 2.4× |
| California | 6 | #2,322 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 5 | #2,747 | 0.3× |
Where Jelani is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Jelani is most over-represented in New York: since 1973 it was given 2.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Jelani with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Jelani
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Jelani and names like it
- Compare Jelani and ArenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sJelani peaked in 2023.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jelani since 1910.
- The top names of 2023The year the most babies were named Jelani.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Jelani alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with JMost given first.