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
Census
Ra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,077 people with the first name Ra, which placed it at #11,755 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
#11,755
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,077 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
43.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ra is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.4%. The next largest groups are White (25.6%) and Black (17.0%). 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 Ra 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 Ra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander43.4% · 467
- White25.6% · 276
- Black or African American17.0% · 183
- Hispanic or Latino9.5% · 102
- Two or more races4.2% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 4
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)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ra on both sides of the split. Of the 1,069 people counted with this name, 673 were male (63.0%) and 396 were female (37.0%).
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.
How common was Ra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,077 people with the name Ra, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,755 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 Ra 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 Ra?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ra on both sides of the split. Of the 1,069 people counted with this name, 673 were male (63.0%) and 396 were female (37.0%). 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 Ra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ra is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.4%. The next largest groups are White (25.6%) and Black (17.0%). 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 Ra most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.4% (467 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 Ra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Ra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ra 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 Ra 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 have the name Ra?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Ra on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.