Rajan
A masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "king" or "sovereign".
Name Census estimates that about 998 living Americans carry the first name Rajan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rajan today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rajan births was 2007 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rajan. 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
998
~ 1 in 343,441 Americans
Peak year
2007
35 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,713
Tracked since 1966
Popularity
Rajan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rajan from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 266 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rajan 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 Rajan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rajans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Rajan, while New Jersey, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 62 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rajan
Rajan is a given name that originates from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was widely used in the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Raja," which means "king" or "ruler." It is believed that the name Rajan first came into use around the 5th century BCE, during the Vedic period of ancient India.
The name Rajan has a rich historical significance in Hindu mythology and literature. It is mentioned in several ancient Hindu texts, including the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Puranas. In the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics, Rajan is mentioned as the name of a character who was a king and a warrior.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Rajan is found in the Gupta Empire, which ruled over a significant portion of the Indian subcontinent from the 4th to the 6th century CE. During this period, several kings and rulers bore the name Rajan, indicating its popularity among the royal families of the time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Rajan. One of the most famous was Rajan Zed, an Indian-American spiritual leader and the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, who was born in 1954. Another notable figure was Rajan Bharti Mittal, an Indian businessman and the vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises, who was born in 1955.
In the field of literature, Rajan Nair was an acclaimed Indian writer and novelist who was born in 1939. He was known for his works that explored the themes of identity, cultural clashes, and the lives of Indian immigrants in the West. Rajan Sankaran, born in 1960, is a renowned Indian homeopathic physician and author who has made significant contributions to the field of homeopathy.
Rajan Pokhrel, born in 1968, is a Nepalese politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal, who held office from 2016 to 2017. He played a crucial role in the country's transition to a federal democratic republic and is known for his efforts to promote peace and stability in the region.
People
Rajan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rajan 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
Rajan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rajan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 998 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rajan 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 343,441 US residents.
Is Rajan a common name?
We classify Rajan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,027 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rajan most popular?
The single biggest year for Rajan was 2007, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rajan is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Rajan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rajan 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.