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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Rama with official rankings and popularity over time.
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
Census
Rama in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,169 people with the first name Rama, which placed it at #4,464 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
#4,464
National first-name rank
People counted
4.2K
4,169 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
59.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rama
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rama is Asian/Pacific Islander at 59.6%. The next largest groups are White (29.8%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Rama 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 Rama at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander59.6% · 2,485
- White29.8% · 1,241
- Black or African American6.2% · 258
- Two or more races2.8% · 117
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 18
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)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rama on both sides of the split. Of the 4,175 people counted with this name, 1,259 were male (30.2%) and 2,916 were female (69.8%).
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.
How common was Rama in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,169 people with the name Rama, or 1.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,464 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 Rama 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 Rama?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rama on both sides of the split. Of the 4,175 people counted with this name, 1,259 were male (30.2%) and 2,916 were female (69.8%). 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 Rama?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rama is Asian/Pacific Islander at 59.6%. The next largest groups are White (29.8%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Rama most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Rama in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.6% (2,485 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 Rama in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Rama still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rama 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 Rama 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 have Rama as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Rama on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.