Holding steady, #6,803 for boys today.
Popularity of Jafar since 1975
Babies named Jafar per year in U.S. Social Security records.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1970s | 32 |
| 1980s | 85 |
| 1990s | 134 |
| 2000s | 154 |
| 2010s | 174 |
| 2020s | 92 |
Meaning & origin
Jafar has been recorded in U.S. births since 1975, though its usage remains relatively rare. The name reached its peak popularity in 1994, but as of 2025 it ranks 6803, with approximately 1 in 142,340 boys receiving the name that year. The trajectory of the name has been stable over recent decades, and it has not seen a revival. The most popular states for Jafar in modern years have been largely tied to communities with Arabic-speaking or Muslim populations.
Jafar is an Arabic name (جعفر) meaning 'stream' or 'small river', from the root ج-ف-ر (j-f-r) denoting flow. It was borne by Ja'far al-Sadiq, a revered 8th-century Shia imam, and Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad. The name has been used across the Islamic world for centuries and is also common in South Asia and parts of Africa.
“Jafar” around the world
Where Jafar lands in the latest official birth statistics abroad, matched to the U.S. spelling.
France
5
babies in 2024
Sources: INSEE (France).
Nicknames & variants
Sibling names for Jafar
Names that share Jafar's style, for a brother or sister.
