Rade
A masculine Slavic name meaning "prosperous" or "industrious worker".
Name Census estimates that about 16 living Americans carry the first name Rade. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rade today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rade births was 1959 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rade. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Rade. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
16
~ 1 in 21,422,146 Americans
Peak year
1959
7 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1975 SSA rank
#5,295
Tracked since 1959
Census
Rade in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 319 people with the first name Rade, which placed it at #28,252 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
#28,252
National first-name rank
People counted
319
319 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rade
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rade is White at 93.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.5%) and Black (1.9%). 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 Rade 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 Rade at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.1% · 297
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 8
- Black or African American1.9% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 5
- Two or more races0.9% · 3
Popularity
Rade: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rade from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 7 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
Rade 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 Rade 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 Rade
The given name Rade finds its origin in Slavic languages, particularly in the Serbo-Croatian linguistic branch. It is believed to have emerged during the medieval period, around the 12th or 13th century, in the regions of the Balkans and Central Europe where Slavic cultures thrived.
Rade is derived from the Slavic root "rad," which carries the meaning of joy, happiness, or enthusiasm. This root is also present in words like "radost" (joy) in Serbo-Croatian and "radość" (joy) in Polish. The name Rade can be interpreted as "the joyful one" or "the happy one."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rade can be found in the medieval Serbian epic poetry, particularly in the cycle of poems known as the "Kosovo Cycle." These epic poems recount the events surrounding the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, where a Serbian nobleman named Rade is mentioned as a prominent figure.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Rade. One of the most famous was Rade Nenadović (1794-1867), a Serbian revolutionary and statesman who played a crucial role in the Serbian uprising against the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century.
Another prominent individual was Rade Miljković (1937-2007), a renowned Serbian writer and poet who gained recognition for his contributions to modern Serbian literature. His works often explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition.
In the realm of sports, Rade Prica (1891-1967) was a Croatian football player and manager who played a pivotal role in the development of football in Yugoslavia during the early 20th century. He represented the national team and later coached several clubs.
Rade Šerbedžija (born 1946) is a contemporary Croatian actor and director who has appeared in numerous films, plays, and television series, both in his home country and internationally. He is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished actors from the former Yugoslavia.
Another notable figure was Rade Končar (1911-1968), a Croatian engineer and entrepreneur who founded the Končar Group, one of the largest electrical engineering companies in Southeastern Europe. His contributions to the industrialization and economic development of Croatia were significant.
People
Rade + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rade 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
Rade: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rade?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rade 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 21,422,146 US residents.
Is Rade a common name?
We classify Rade as "Very Rare". It ranks above 36.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 19 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rade most popular?
The single biggest year for Rade was 1959, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rade is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rade in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 319 people with the name Rade, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,252 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 Rade 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 Rade?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rade leans strongly male. 317 people counted with this name were male (97.2%), compared with 9 female bearers (2.8%). 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 Rade?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rade is White at 93.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.5%) and Black (1.9%). 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 Rade most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rade in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.1% (297 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 Rade in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rade a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rade 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 Rade still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rade 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 Rade 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 called Rade?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.