Ralston
A masculine English surname transferred to a given name meaning "from Raleigh's town".
Name Census estimates that about 585 living Americans carry the first name Ralston. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ralston today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ralston births was 1921 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ralston. 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
585
~ 1 in 585,905 Americans
Peak year
1921
25 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,642
Tracked since 1910
Census
Ralston in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 892 people with the first name Ralston, which placed it at #13,511 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
#13,511
National first-name rank
People counted
892
892 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ralston
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ralston is Black at 53.4%. The next largest groups are White (35.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.6%). 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 Ralston 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 Ralston at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.4% · 476
- White35.1% · 313
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 30
- Two or more races2.2% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 12
Popularity
Ralston: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ralston from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 131 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ralston 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 Ralston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ralstons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ralston
The name Ralston has its origins in the Old English language, tracing back to the 8th or 9th century AD. It is derived from the combination of two Old English words: "ræd" meaning "red" and "stan" meaning "stone." The name is believed to have initially been used as a toponymic surname, referring to someone who lived near a red stone or a place with a reddish stone.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ralston can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of England completed in 1086 AD under the orders of William the Conqueror. The name appeared as a place name, "Radestone," in the county of Derbyshire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ralston. One of the earliest recorded was Ralston Calvert (1808-1846), an American politician who served as the 21st Governor of Maryland from 1835 to 1838.
Another prominent figure was Ralston Markoe (1819-1888), an American author and playwright who wrote several popular plays in the mid-19th century, including "The Veteran" and "The Buccaneer."
In the 20th century, Ralston Crawford (1906-1978) was an American artist and photographer known for his abstract paintings and precisionist style. His works are featured in many notable museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Ralston Purina, born William Holcombe Danforth (1869-1955), was an American businessman and founder of the Ralston Purina Company, a leading producer of pet food and animal feed products.
More recently, Ralston Hill (1944-2010) was a Canadian actor and director, best known for his roles in television series such as "The Littlest Hobo" and "The Beachcombers."
While the name Ralston has its roots in Old English, it has been adopted and used across various cultures and regions throughout history, with individuals bearing this name making significant contributions in fields ranging from politics and literature to art and business.
People
Ralston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ralston 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
Ralston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ralston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 585 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ralston 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 585,905 US residents.
Is Ralston a common name?
We classify Ralston as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 924 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ralston most popular?
The single biggest year for Ralston was 1921, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ralston is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ralston in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 892 people with the name Ralston, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,511 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 Ralston 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 Ralston?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ralston leans strongly male. 874 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 19 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Ralston?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ralston is Black at 53.4%. The next largest groups are White (35.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.6%). 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 Ralston most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ralston in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.4% (476 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 Ralston in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ralston a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ralston 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 Ralston still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ralston 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 Ralston 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 Ralston?
Find out how many people share the name Ralston on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.