Farai
A feminine Shona name meaning "one who brings happiness or joy".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Farai. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Farai today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Farai births was 2005 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Farai. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Farai with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Farai. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
2005
6 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2005 SSA rank
#10,515
Tracked since 2005
Census
Farai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 175 people with the first name Farai, which placed it at #41,669 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#41,669
National first-name rank
People counted
175
175 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Farai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Farai is Black at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Farai described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Farai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.7% · 157
- Two or more races3.4% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 5
- White1.1% · 2
Popularity
Farai: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Farai by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Farai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Farai
The name Farai originated from the Shona language spoken in Zimbabwe. It is a gender-neutral name that means "happiness" or "rejoice". The name has its roots in the Bantu languages of Southern Africa and can be traced back to the 15th century.
Some historians believe that the name Farai was derived from the Shona word "farira", which means "to celebrate" or "to rejoice". It was a common practice among the Shona people to give their children names that reflected positive emotions and virtues, which may explain the origin of this name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Farai can be found in the writings of Portuguese missionaries who visited the region in the late 16th century. These missionaries documented the names and customs of the local Shona people, including the use of the name Farai.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Farai. One of the earliest recorded individuals was Farai Mutasa, a Shona chief who lived in the late 17th century and played a significant role in the resistance against Portuguese colonization.
Another notable figure was Farai Chideya, an American author and journalist born in 1969. She wrote several books exploring race, politics, and culture in the United States, including "The Color of Our Future" and "Trust: Reaching the 100 Million Missing Voters".
In the 20th century, Farai Chigavazira was a Zimbabwean artist and sculptor known for his intricate stone carvings that depicted traditional Shona life and culture. He was born in 1945 and his works are displayed in various museums around the world.
Farai Simoyi, born in 1978, is a Zimbabwean cricketer who played for the national team and was part of the squad that participated in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
Farai Mudzingwa, born in 1980, is a Zimbabwean author and academic who has written several novels and short stories exploring themes of identity, diaspora, and cultural displacement. Her works include "The Shavi Odyssey" and "Wandering Bhilindas".
People
Farai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Farai as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Farai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Farai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Farai going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Farai a common name?
We classify Farai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Farai most popular?
The single biggest year for Farai was 2005, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Farai is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Farai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 175 people with the name Farai, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,669 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Farai in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Farai?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Farai on both sides of the split. Of the 180 people counted with this name, 123 were male (68.3%) and 57 were female (31.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Farai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Farai is Black at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.4%) and Hispanic (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Farai most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Farai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.7% (157 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Farai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Farai a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Farai in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Farai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Farai in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Farai can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Farai?
You can see how many people have the name Farai on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.