Given name & surname
Jafar
“from the small stream”
Jafar is used as a given name and a surname. One Arabic interpretation is “from the small stream.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Arabic interpretation is “from the small stream.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Arabic.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1975. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Jafar through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 671
- 671 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1994
- 33 babies
- 2025
- 12
- #6,961 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −4%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 12 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 6,961 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 3.7% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 33 in 1994. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,195 as a first name in 2020; 666 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Jafar’s family of names
In English usage, Jafar has a related form in Jaafar. Jafar has a related form in Jaafar. Jafar has a related form in Jaffar.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 16
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Jafar
- Jafar DehghanIranian actorborn 1960
- Jafar AriasCuraçaoan professional footballerborn 1995
- Jafar Hidayatullahbadminton playerborn 2003
- Mirza Jafar TopchubashovRussian orientalist of Azerbaijani origin (1790–1869)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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