Rada
Of Ukrainian origin, meaning "joyful" or "full of joy".
Name Census estimates that about 151 living Americans carry the first name Rada. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rada today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rada births was 1921 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rada. 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 Rada with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
151
~ 1 in 2,269,896 Americans
Peak year
1921
15 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,824
Tracked since 1893
Census
Rada in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 707 people with the first name Rada, which placed it at #16,066 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
#16,066
National first-name rank
People counted
707
707 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rada
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rada is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.6%) and Black (4.8%). 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 Rada 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 Rada at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.3% · 575
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.6% · 61
- Black or African American4.8% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 25
- Two or more races1.7% · 12
Popularity
Rada: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rada from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 93 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Rada remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rada 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 Rada during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rada
Rada is a feminine given name with origins tracing back to the Slavic languages. It is believed to be derived from the Old Slavic word "rad," meaning "joy" or "gladness." The name was particularly popular among the medieval Slavic communities in Central and Eastern Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rada can be found in the 12th-century Velestino Inscription, a medieval Slavic text discovered in modern-day Greece. This inscription suggests that the name was already in use among Slavic populations in the Balkans during that period.
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Rada Crnojević was the daughter of the Serbian ruler Vukašin Mrnjavčević and the wife of the Ottoman-appointed ruler of Zeta, Đurađ Balšić. Her name appeared in various historical records and chronicles from that era.
Another historical figure bearing the name Rada was Rada Nedić (1899-1976), a Serbian painter and one of the pioneers of modern art in her country. Her works are celebrated for their unique blend of traditional Serbian motifs and contemporary artistic styles.
During the 14th century, the name Rada appeared in several religious texts and chronicles in various Slavic regions, further indicating its widespread use among Slavic communities at the time.
In the realm of literature, Rada Polić (1953-2011) was a renowned Croatian poet and writer. Her poetic works explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition, earning her critical acclaim and numerous literary awards.
Rada Gorbačova (1953-2010) was a prominent Russian human rights activist and journalist. She played a significant role in advocating for freedom of speech and civil liberties in the Soviet Union and later in Russia.
While the name Rada has roots in the Slavic languages, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly among communities with Slavic cultural influences or connections. However, its historical origins and earliest recorded usages can be traced back to the medieval Slavic populations of Central and Eastern Europe.
People
Rada + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rada 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
Rada: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rada?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 151 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rada 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 2,269,896 US residents.
Is Rada a common name?
We classify Rada as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 464 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rada most popular?
The single biggest year for Rada was 1921, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rada is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rada in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 707 people with the name Rada, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,066 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 Rada 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 Rada?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rada leans strongly female. 643 people counted with this name were female (90.2%), compared with 70 male bearers (9.8%). 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 Rada?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rada is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.6%) and Black (4.8%). 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 Rada most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rada in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (575 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 Rada in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rada a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rada 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 Rada still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rada 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 Rada 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 Americans are named Rada?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.