Ra
Ancient Egyptian sun god and supreme deity.
Name Census estimates that about 231 living Americans carry the first name Ra. It is a predominantly male name (91.5% of registrations). The average person named Ra today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ra births was 2023 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ra. 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.
People living today
231
~ 1 in 1,483,785 Americans
Peak year
2023
29 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,591
Tracked since 1969
Gender
Gender distribution for Ra
Ra leans heavily male at 91.5% of total registrations, but 20 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ra as a male name
- Ranked #7,591 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (29 births)
Ra as a female name
- Ranked #19,176 in 2010
- 5 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1969 (5 births)
Popularity
Ra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ra from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 85 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ra 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 Ra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ras live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ra
The name Ra is of ancient Egyptian origin, dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. It is derived from the ancient Egyptian word "re," which means "sun" or "sun god." Ra was the primary name of the sun god, one of the most important deities in the Egyptian pantheon.
Ra was revered as the supreme creator of the universe and the giver of life. He was typically depicted as a human figure with the head of a falcon, wearing a sun disk on his head. The name Ra appeared prominently in many ancient Egyptian texts, including the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts, which were inscribed on the walls of tombs and coffins.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ra can be found in the Pyramid Texts, which date back to the Old Kingdom period (c. 2686-2181 BC). These texts were inscribed on the walls of the pyramids of several pharaohs, including Unas, Teti, and Pepi I.
Throughout Egyptian history, there were several notable individuals who bore the name Ra. One of the most famous was Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great (c. 1279-1213 BC), who ruled during the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom. He was renowned for his military campaigns, monumental construction projects, and his long reign of over 60 years.
Another notable figure was Ra-Horakhty, a composite deity who combined the aspects of Ra and Horus, the falcon-headed god of the sky. This deity was worshipped in the city of Heliopolis, which was considered the center of Ra worship in ancient Egypt.
In the realm of ancient Egyptian literature, the name Ra also appears in the "Book of the Dead," a collection of funerary texts that were intended to guide the deceased through the afterlife. One of the most well-known spells in this text is the "Hymn to Ra," which praises the sun god and his life-giving powers.
Outside of ancient Egypt, the name Ra has been associated with various figures in different cultures. In Hindu mythology, for example, there is a character named Rahu, who is depicted as a serpent or dragon who swallows the sun and moon during eclipses.
Overall, the name Ra has a rich and ancient history, deeply rooted in the religious and cultural traditions of ancient Egypt. Its association with the sun god and its appearance in numerous ancient texts and inscriptions have cemented its place in the annals of history.
People
Ra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ra as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 231 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ra 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 1,483,785 US residents.
Is Ra a common name?
We classify Ra as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 236 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ra most popular?
The single biggest year for Ra was 2023, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ra is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ra a male name?
Yes, 91.5% of people registered as Ra 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.
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.