Rajneesh
A Hindu name meaning "king of kings" or "lord of the senses".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Rajneesh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rajneesh today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rajneesh births was 1986 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rajneesh. 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 Rajneesh. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
1986
6 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
1986 SSA rank
#6,529
Tracked since 1986
Census
Rajneesh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 258 people with the first name Rajneesh, which placed it at #32,555 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
#32,555
National first-name rank
People counted
258
258 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
92.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rajneesh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rajneesh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.1%) and Black (2.7%). 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 Rajneesh 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 Rajneesh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander92.6% · 239
- Two or more races3.1% · 8
- Black or African American2.7% · 7
- White0.8% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 2
Popularity
Rajneesh: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Rajneesh 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 Rajneesh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Rajneesh
The name Rajneesh has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest languages in the world, dating back to the second millennium BCE. The name is derived from the Sanskrit words "raj," meaning "king" or "ruler," and "neesh," which means "night." Thus, the name can be interpreted to mean "the king of the night" or "the one who rules the night."
In ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, the name Rajneesh is often associated with divine beings or deities who were believed to hold sway over the night or the celestial realm. Some scholars have suggested that the name may have been used to refer to the moon god or other celestial deities worshipped in certain ancient Indian cultures.
The earliest recorded use of the name Rajneesh can be traced back to the 6th century CE, when it appears in ancient Sanskrit inscriptions and manuscripts. However, it is likely that the name was in use long before this, as Sanskrit was already an established language by that time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Rajneesh. One of the earliest known was Rajneesh Bhattacharya, a renowned Indian scholar and philosopher who lived in the 9th century CE. He is credited with writing several influential works on Hindu philosophy and is considered a pioneer in the field of logic and epistemology.
Another famous Rajneesh was Rajneesh Chandra Moitro, a Bengali poet and writer who lived in the 19th century. He was known for his contributions to the literary renaissance in Bengal and is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of Bengali literature.
In the 20th century, the name Rajneesh gained global recognition due to the controversial Indian spiritual leader and mystic, Rajneesh Chandra Mohan (1931-1990), also known as Osho. He established a spiritual movement known as the Rajneesh movement, which attracted followers from around the world.
Other notable individuals with the name Rajneesh include Rajneesh Kapoor, an Indian film actor who appeared in several Bollywood movies in the 1970s and 1980s, and Rajneesh Mishra, a contemporary Indian author and journalist known for his works on social and political issues.
While the name Rajneesh is not as common today as it once was, it continues to hold cultural and historical significance, particularly within the Hindu tradition and among those interested in ancient Sanskrit literature and philosophy.
People
Rajneesh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rajneesh 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
Rajneesh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rajneesh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rajneesh 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Rajneesh a common name?
We classify Rajneesh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rajneesh most popular?
The single biggest year for Rajneesh was 1986, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rajneesh is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rajneesh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 258 people with the name Rajneesh, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,555 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 Rajneesh 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 Rajneesh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rajneesh leans strongly male. 240 people counted with this name were male (89.6%), compared with 28 female bearers (10.4%). 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 Rajneesh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rajneesh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.1%) and Black (2.7%). 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 Rajneesh most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Rajneesh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.6% (239 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 Rajneesh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rajneesh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rajneesh 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 Rajneesh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rajneesh 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 Rajneesh 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 Rajneesh?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.