Rajah
An Arabic masculine name meaning "king" or "nobleman".
Name Census estimates that about 596 living Americans carry the first name Rajah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 71.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Rajah today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rajah births was 1994 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rajah. 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.
People living today
596
~ 1 in 575,091 Americans
Peak year
1994
44 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,780
Tracked since 1951
Gender
Gender distribution for Rajah
Rajah is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 610 total registrations, 435 (71.3%) were male and 175 (28.7%) were female.
Rajah as a male name
- Ranked #8,780 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (24 births)
Rajah as a female name
- Ranked #13,269 in 2022
- 7 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1994 (20 births)
Popularity
Rajah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rajah from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 166 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Rajah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rajah 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 Rajah 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 Rajah
The name Rajah is derived from the Sanskrit word "Raja", which means "king" or "ruler". This name has its origins in ancient India, where it was used to refer to the kings and princes of various ruling dynasties.
In ancient Indian texts, such as the Vedas and the Puranas, the term "Raja" is frequently used to refer to the rulers of the various kingdoms that existed in the subcontinent. The name Rajah is a variant of this term, and it has been in use for centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rajah can be found in the epic poem Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this text, the character Rajah Yudhisthira is depicted as the eldest of the Pandava brothers and the rightful heir to the throne of Hastinapura.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Rajah. One of the most famous was Rajah Ranjit Singh, who ruled over the Sikh Empire in the early 19th century (1780-1839). He was known for his military prowess and his efforts to consolidate the Sikh territories in the Punjab region.
Another noteworthy figure was Rajah Brooke, also known as Sir James Brooke (1803-1868). He was a British adventurer who became the first White Rajah of Sarawak, a territory on the island of Borneo, in 1841. He played a significant role in the development of Sarawak and its governance.
In the realm of literature, one cannot overlook Rajah Shelley, better known as Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), the renowned English Romantic poet. His works, such as "Ozymandias" and "Ode to the West Wind", have left an indelible mark on the literary world.
Another notable figure was Rajah Sir Sayyid Ross Masood (1889-1937), an Indian civil servant and diplomat who served as the Dewan of Jodhpur and later as the Indian Agent to the British Crown Representative in Zanzibar.
Lastly, Rajah Humayon Mirza (1900-1957) was a prominent Indian actor and filmmaker who worked in the early days of Indian cinema. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of the Indian film industry and is credited with directing the first talkie film in India, Alam Ara, in 1931.
People
Rajah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rajah 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
Rajah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rajah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 596 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rajah 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 575,091 US residents.
Is Rajah a common name?
We classify Rajah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 610 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rajah most popular?
The single biggest year for Rajah was 1994, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rajah is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Rajah a male name?
Yes, 71.3% of people registered as Rajah 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.
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.