Ramesses
An Egyptian masculine name meaning "Ra is born again".
Name Census estimates that about 199 living Americans carry the first name Ramesses. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ramesses today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ramesses births was 2018 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ramesses. 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
199
~ 1 in 1,722,384 Americans
Peak year
2018
23 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,596
Tracked since 2007
Popularity
Ramesses: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ramesses from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 125 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ramesses remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ramesses 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 Ramesses during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ramesses' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ramesses
The name Ramesses has its origins in ancient Egypt, deriving from the Egyptian Ra-mes-su, meaning "Ra is the one who bore him" or "Born of Ra". Ra was the supreme sun god in Egyptian mythology, and Ramesses was a prominent royal name among the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt's 19th and 20th dynasties.
The earliest known bearer of the name was Ramesses I, who reigned as the founder of the 19th Dynasty from 1292 to 1290 BCE. However, the most famous Ramesses was undoubtedly Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great, who ruled from 1279 to 1213 BCE. His reign marked the peak of ancient Egyptian power and saw the construction of numerous monuments, including the famous Abu Simbel temples and the Ramesseum mortuary temple.
The name Ramesses appears in various ancient Egyptian texts and inscriptions, including the hieroglyphic carvings on temple walls and obelisks. It is also mentioned in the biblical book of Exodus, where Ramesses II is believed to have been the pharaoh during the time of Moses and the Israelite Exodus from Egypt.
Other notable historical figures named Ramesses include Ramesses III, who reigned during the 20th Dynasty from 1186 to 1155 BCE and is credited with defeating the Sea Peoples, a confederacy of seafaring raiders. Ramesses IV and Ramesses VI were also pharaohs of the 20th Dynasty, ruling from 1155 to 1149 BCE and 1145 to 1137 BCE, respectively.
Beyond ancient Egypt, the name Ramesses has been used by various individuals throughout history, although less frequently. One example is Ramses de Dampierre (1608-1669), a French nobleman and military commander during the Thirty Years' War. Another is Ramses Shaffy (1933-2009), a renowned Dutch singer, actor, and television personality of Egyptian descent.
People
Ramesses + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ramesses 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
Ramesses: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ramesses?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 199 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ramesses 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 1,722,384 US residents.
Is Ramesses a common name?
We classify Ramesses as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 200 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ramesses most popular?
The single biggest year for Ramesses was 2018, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ramesses is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Ramesses in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ramesses a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ramesses 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 Ramesses still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ramesses 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 Ramesses 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Ramesses?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Ramesses at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.