Ranata
A feminine name of Hopi origin representing the enduring vigor of nature.
Name Census estimates that about 74 living Americans carry the first name Ranata. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ranata today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ranata births was 1980 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ranata. 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 Ranata. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
74
~ 1 in 4,631,815 Americans
Peak year
1980
35 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1984 SSA rank
#10,023
Tracked since 1964
Census
Ranata in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 153 people with the first name Ranata, which placed it at #44,840 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
#44,840
National first-name rank
People counted
153
153 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ranata
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ranata is Black at 59.5%. The next largest groups are White (30.1%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Ranata 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 Ranata at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.5% · 91
- White30.1% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 11
- Two or more races2.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 2
Popularity
Ranata: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ranata from the 1960s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 63 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ranata 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 Ranata during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ranatas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ranata
The name Ranata is thought to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which was the classical literary language of ancient India. The name likely emerged sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the 4th century CE, during the peak of Sanskrit literature and the height of the Gupta Empire in northern India.
The name Ranata is derived from the Sanskrit word "ranata," which means "joy" or "delight." It is believed to have been used as a name for children, especially girls, to symbolize the joy and happiness they brought to their families. In Hindu mythology, there are references to goddesses and celestial beings associated with joy and delight, which may have influenced the popularity of this name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ranata can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In this epic, there is a character named Ranata, who was a skilled musician and dancer in the court of King Drupada.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ranata. One example is Ranata Devi (1504-1567), who was a powerful queen and ruler of the Rajput kingdom of Mewar in present-day Rajasthan, India. She was known for her courage, wisdom, and patronage of arts and architecture.
Another famous Ranata was Ranata Guha (1923-2015), an Indian statistician and computer scientist who made significant contributions to the field of pattern recognition and machine learning. He is often referred to as the "father of the clustering technique" in data analysis.
In the realm of literature, Ranata Chatterjee (1917-2006) was a celebrated Bengali writer and novelist from India. She is best known for her novel "Sraboner Dingulo" (Days of Autumn), which explores the lives of middle-class Bengali women in the early 20th century.
Ranata Suzuki (1835-1919) was a Japanese educator and pioneer in the field of women's education. She founded one of the first private schools for girls in Japan and played a crucial role in promoting education for women during the Meiji Era.
Lastly, Ranata Thill (1892-1989) was a French soprano and opera singer who gained international acclaim for her performances in the early 20th century. She was particularly renowned for her interpretations of roles in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
While the name Ranata may have fallen out of common usage in recent times, its rich history and associations with joy, delight, and notable individuals from various fields make it a unique and culturally significant name.
People
Ranata + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ranata 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
Ranata: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ranata?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 74 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ranata 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 4,631,815 US residents.
Is Ranata a common name?
We classify Ranata as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 80 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ranata most popular?
The single biggest year for Ranata was 1980, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ranata is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ranata in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 153 people with the name Ranata, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,840 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 Ranata 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 Ranata?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ranata appears almost entirely female. Of the 149 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Ranata?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ranata is Black at 59.5%. The next largest groups are White (30.1%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Ranata most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ranata in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.5% (91 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 Ranata in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ranata a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ranata 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 Ranata still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ranata 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 Ranata 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 Ranata?
You can see how many people share the name Ranata on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.