Rabia
An Arabic feminine name meaning "spring" or "early spring rain".
Name Census estimates that about 829 living Americans carry the first name Rabia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rabia today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rabia births was 1997 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rabia. 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 Rabia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
829
~ 1 in 413,455 Americans
Peak year
1997
30 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,387
Tracked since 1973
Census
Rabia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,200 people with the first name Rabia, which placed it at #5,384 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
#5,384
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,200 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rabia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rabia is Asian/Pacific Islander at 73.1%. The next largest groups are White (16.9%) and Black (5.0%). 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 Rabia 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 Rabia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander73.1% · 2,338
- White16.9% · 542
- Black or African American5.0% · 159
- Two or more races4.5% · 143
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Rabia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rabia from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 257 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rabia 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 Rabia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rabias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Rabia, while California, Illinois, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rabia
The name Rabia is of Arabic origin, deriving from the Semitic root r-b-' which means "spring" or "early spring." It is a feminine name that has been in use since ancient times in the Middle East and North Africa.
Rabia is believed to have been the name of one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a woman named Rabia al-Quzdari who lived in the 7th century CE. She is said to have been among the early converts to Islam and was known for her piety and devotion.
One of the earliest and most famous individuals to bear the name Rabia was Rabia al-Adawiyya, a renowned Sufi mystic and saint who lived in Basra, Iraq, in the 8th century CE (around 717-801 CE). She is revered for her teachings on the importance of love and devotion to God, and her spiritual insights have had a lasting impact on the Sufi tradition.
Another notable figure named Rabia was Rabia Basri, a famous female Islamic scholar and mystic who lived in the 8th century CE (around 713-801 CE). She was known for her profound knowledge of Islamic theology and her influential teachings on spirituality and the path to nearness to God.
In the 11th century CE, there was a prominent female poet named Rabia Bint Kamal al-Din, who was born in Baghdad and lived from 1031 to 1093 CE. She was renowned for her eloquent poetry and is considered one of the greatest female poets of the medieval Islamic world.
Rabia Khatun was a powerful and influential Queen of the Delhi Sultanate in India, who ruled from 1236 to 1240 CE. She played a significant role in the consolidation of the Sultanate and is remembered for her leadership and patronage of art and architecture.
While these are some of the most notable historical figures to bear the name Rabia, it has been a popular name across the Arab world and among Muslim communities for centuries, and many other individuals have carried this name throughout history.
People
Rabia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rabia 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
Rabia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rabia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 829 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rabia 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 413,455 US residents.
Is Rabia a common name?
We classify Rabia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 854 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rabia most popular?
The single biggest year for Rabia was 1997, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rabia is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rabia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,200 people with the name Rabia, or 1.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,384 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 Rabia 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 Rabia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rabia leans strongly female. 3,133 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 66 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Rabia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rabia is Asian/Pacific Islander at 73.1%. The next largest groups are White (16.9%) and Black (5.0%). 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 Rabia most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Rabia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (2,338 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 Rabia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rabia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rabia in the SSA data are female. 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 Rabia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rabia 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 Rabia 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 Rabia as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Rabia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.