Rachael
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "ewe" or "female lamb".
Name Census estimates that about 74,842 living Americans carry the first name Rachael. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rachael today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rachael births was 1990 (3,035 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rachael. 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 Rachael with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Rachael is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 181 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Rachael have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
75K
~ 1 in 4,580 Americans
Peak year
1990
3,035 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2004 SSA rank
#3,935
Tracked since 1880
Census
Rachael in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 75,091 people with the first name Rachael, which placed it at #692 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
#692
National first-name rank
People counted
75K
75,091 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
24.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rachael
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rachael is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.0%) and Black (4.9%). 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 Rachael 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 Rachael at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.0% · 60,827
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 5,240
- Black or African American4.9% · 3,695
- Two or more races4.3% · 3,249
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 1,553
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 527
Gender
Gender distribution for Rachael
Out of the 82,621 babies given the name Rachael since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Rachael as a male name
- Ranked #11,005 in 2004
- 6 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1987 (17 births)
Rachael as a female name
- Ranked #3,935 in 2024
- 38 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (3,028 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rachael appears almost entirely female. Of the 75,096 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Rachael: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rachael from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 25,788 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rachael 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 Rachael during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rachaels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the most babies named Rachael, while Wyoming, District of Columbia, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,517 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rachael
The name Rachael has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is derived from the biblical name Rachel, which is thought to have originated from the Hebrew word "rachel" meaning "ewe" or female sheep. The name can be traced back to ancient times, as it appears in the Old Testament of the Bible as the name of the wife of Jacob and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
In the biblical account, Rachel is described as being beautiful and deeply loved by Jacob. However, she initially struggles with infertility before eventually giving birth to Joseph. Rachel's story is intertwined with that of her sister Leah, who was also married to Jacob, and their rivalry is a central theme in the biblical narrative.
The earliest recorded example of the name Rachel can be found in the Book of Genesis, which is believed to have been written between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE. However, the name's use likely predates the written record, as it was a common name among the ancient Hebrews.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Rachael or its variations. One of the most famous was Rachael Ruysch (1664-1750), a Dutch artist renowned for her exquisite still-life paintings of flowers. Another notable figure was Rachael Pringle Polgreen (1753-1790), a British writer and advocate for women's education.
In the realm of literature, the name Rachael is associated with the character of Rachael Lapides in John Updike's novel "Couples" (1968). Additionally, Rachael Stirling (born 1977) is a British actress known for her roles in various television shows and films.
Rachael Heyhoe Flint (1939-2017) was an English cricketer who captained the England women's national cricket team and played a significant role in promoting women's cricket. Rachael Blackmore (born 1989) is an Irish jockey who made history in 2021 as the first female jockey to win the Grand National, one of the most prestigious horse races in the world.
While the name Rachael has Biblical origins, it has transcended its religious roots and has been embraced by various cultures across the globe. Its enduring popularity can be attributed to its melodic sound and its association with strength, beauty, and resilience, as exemplified by the biblical Rachel.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rachael
People
Rachael + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rachael 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
Rachael: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rachael?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 74,842 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rachael 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 4,580 US residents.
Is Rachael a common name?
We classify Rachael as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 82,621 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rachael most popular?
The single biggest year for Rachael was 1990, when 3,035 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rachael is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rachael in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 75,091 people with the name Rachael, or 24.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #692 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 Rachael 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 Rachael?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rachael appears almost entirely female. Of the 75,096 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Rachael?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rachael is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.0%) and Black (4.9%). 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 Rachael most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rachael in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.0% (60,827 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 Rachael in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rachael a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Rachael 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 Rachael still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rachael 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 Rachael 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 named Rachael?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.