Rama
A Sanskrit masculine name meaning "pleasing" or "source of joy".
Name Census estimates that about 1,100 living Americans carry the first name Rama. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Rama today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rama births was 2010 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rama. 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 311,595 Americans
Peak year
2010
44 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,320
Tracked since 1897
Gender
Gender distribution for Rama
Rama leans heavily female at 80.9% of total registrations, but 265 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rama as a male name
- Ranked #13,723 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1974 (16 births)
Rama as a female name
- Ranked #6,320 in 2024
- 19 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (36 births)
Popularity
Rama: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rama from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 288 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rama remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rama 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 Rama during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ramas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Rama, while Texas, New York, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rama
The name Rama has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "rama," which means "pleasing," "delightful," or "charming." The name holds significant importance in Hindu mythology and culture.
Rama is the central figure in the ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana, which is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, composed around the 5th century BCE. The Ramayana narrates the journey of Rama, an avatar (incarnation) of the Hindu deity Vishnu, and his trials and tribulations in rescuing his wife, Sita, from the clutches of the demon king, Ravana.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rama can be found in the Rigveda, one of the four sacred canonical texts of Hinduism, composed between 1500-1000 BCE. The name appears in various other ancient Hindu scriptures, such as the Upanishads and the Puranas.
Throughout history, the name Rama has been borne by several notable figures, including:
1. Rama (born c. 7th century BCE), the legendary prince of Ayodhya and the protagonist of the Ramayana.
2. Rama I (1737-1809), the founder of the Chakri Dynasty and the first monarch of modern Thailand.
3. Rama V (1853-1910), also known as King Chulalongkorn, a revered monarch of Siam (modern-day Thailand) who is credited with significant reforms and modernization efforts.
4. Rama IX (1927-2016), also known as King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history, who was deeply revered by the Thai people.
5. Rama Varma XV (1901-1991), the last ruling maharaja of the Indian princely state of Travancore (modern-day Kerala).
The name Rama has also been used by several other historical figures, including kings, poets, and scholars from various parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia, where the influence of Hindu culture and mythology has been significant.
People
Rama + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rama 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
Rama: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rama?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,100 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rama 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 311,595 US residents.
Is Rama a common name?
We classify Rama as "Rare". It ranks above 90.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,387 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rama most popular?
The single biggest year for Rama was 2010, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rama is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Rama a female name?
Yes, 80.9% of people registered as Rama in the SSA data are female. 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.