Humanverse

Jalea vs Jaleel

American parents have registered 4,930 Jaleels since 1880, against 720 Jaleas. Jaleel is still ahead, with 77 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jalea against Jaleel, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jalea Jaleel

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Jaleel has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1971 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1987, when Jalea had 5 and Jaleel had 6.

Side by side

  Jalea Jaleel
Total US births 7204,930
Most in one year 38255
Babies in 2025 777
Estimated living today 7104,800
Median age today 1821
Peak year 20071994
Best rank 4,050th girls652nd boys
Rank in 2025 11,932nd1,976th
First recorded 19871971
Girls / boys 720 / 024 / 4,906

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Jaleels alive today are over 21; half the Jaleas are over 18. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Jalea and Jaleel.