Rachelle
A feminine name of French origin meaning "a female lamb" or "little ewe".
Name Census estimates that about 30,281 living Americans carry the first name Rachelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rachelle today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rachelle births was 1971 (997 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rachelle. 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 Rachelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
30K
~ 1 in 11,319 Americans
Peak year
1971
997 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1986 SSA rank
#3,252
Tracked since 1911
Census
Rachelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 30,886 people with the first name Rachelle, which placed it at #1,233 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
#1,233
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
30,886 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rachelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rachelle is White at 66.8%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Rachelle 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 Rachelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.8% · 20,620
- Black or African American13.7% · 4,233
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 2,770
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 1,638
- Two or more races4.2% · 1,283
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 342
Gender
Gender distribution for Rachelle
Out of the 33,919 babies given the name Rachelle since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Rachelle as a male name
- Ranked #7,554 in 1986
- 5 male births in 1986
- Peak: 1972 (7 births)
Rachelle as a female name
- Ranked #3,252 in 2024
- 49 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1971 (997 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rachelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 30,888 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Rachelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rachelle from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 9,039 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
Rachelle 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 Rachelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rachelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Rachelle, while Wyoming, Maine, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 640 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rachelle
Rachelle is a feminine given name derived from the Hebrew name Rachel, which means "ewe" or "female sheep" in Hebrew. The name Rachel has biblical origins, as it was the name of the favored wife of Jacob in the Book of Genesis. The variant spelling Rachelle emerged in France during the Middle Ages.
The name Rachelle gained popularity in France during the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly among the French aristocracy and nobility. It was a common name given to daughters of noble families during this period. One notable figure from this era was Rachelle de Vergy, a 13th-century French noblewoman renowned for her beauty and tragic love story.
In the 16th century, the name Rachelle spread to other parts of Europe, including Italy and Spain. During the Italian Renaissance, the name was associated with several prominent figures, such as the Italian poet and writer Rachelle Musso (1558-1628), who was renowned for her sonnets and lyrical works.
The name Rachelle also has a rich history in the realm of religion and spirituality. In the 17th century, Rachelle Ferrier (1620-1691) was a French mystic and writer who authored several books on spiritual themes and was known for her piety and religious devotion.
In the 18th century, Rachelle Lefevre (1723-1788) was a French playwright and author who wrote several successful plays and novels that were widely acclaimed during her time. Her works often explored themes of love, societal norms, and the role of women in French society.
Another notable figure bearing the name Rachelle was Rachelle Antoinette Mueller (1841-1921), a German-American educator and suffragist who played a significant role in advocating for women's rights and educational opportunities in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Throughout history, the name Rachelle has been associated with various fields, including literature, arts, religion, and social activism, reflecting its enduring popularity and cultural significance across different eras and regions.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rachelle
People
Rachelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rachelle 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
Rachelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rachelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30,281 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rachelle 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 11,319 US residents.
Is Rachelle a common name?
We classify Rachelle as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 33,919 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rachelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Rachelle was 1971, when 997 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rachelle is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rachelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 30,886 people with the name Rachelle, or 10.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,233 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 Rachelle 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 Rachelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rachelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 30,888 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 Rachelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rachelle is White at 66.8%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Rachelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rachelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.8% (20,620 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 Rachelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rachelle a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Rachelle 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 Rachelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rachelle 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 Rachelle 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 common is the name Rachelle?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.