Raney
A masculine name of English origin, meaning "raven-haired" or "dark beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 376 living Americans carry the first name Raney. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Raney today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raney births was 1979 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raney. 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
376
~ 1 in 911,581 Americans
Peak year
1979
17 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
1979 SSA rank
#5,237
Tracked since 1917
Gender
Gender distribution for Raney
Raney leans heavily female at 82.8% of total registrations, but 71 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Raney as a male name
- Ranked #5,237 in 1979
- 7 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1965 (8 births)
Raney as a female name
- Ranked #10,967 in 2023
- 9 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2004 (16 births)
Popularity
Raney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raney from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 103 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Raney 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 Raney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Raney
The given name Raney is an English variation of the French name Rainier, which ultimately derives from the Germanic name Raginhari. This name is composed of the elements "ragin" meaning "counsel" and "hari" meaning "army". It originated in the medieval period, around the 8th to 10th centuries.
Raney was initially used as a surname, with one of the earliest recorded instances being Raney de Gaveston in 13th century England. Over time, it transitioned into use as a masculine given name as well. The name Rainier gained popularity across Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly in France and Germany.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name Raney was Raney de Beaumont, a Norman nobleman who participated in the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Another early figure was Raney de Vere, an English nobleman and Crusader who lived in the 12th century.
In the 15th century, Raney de la Pole was a prominent English nobleman and military commander during the Wars of the Roses. He served as Duke of Suffolk and played a significant role in the conflicts between the Houses of Lancaster and York.
During the Renaissance period, Raney Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, renowned for his philosophical statement "I think, therefore I am." He made significant contributions to the fields of philosophy, mathematics, and the scientific method.
In more recent times, Raney Moore (1914-1998) was an American mathematician and computer scientist. He made important contributions to the fields of computer science and numerical analysis, and his work on interval arithmetic and reliable computing had a lasting impact.
People
Raney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raney 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
Raney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 376 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raney 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 911,581 US residents.
Is Raney a common name?
We classify Raney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 413 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raney most popular?
The single biggest year for Raney was 1979, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raney is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Raney a female name?
Yes, 82.8% of people registered as Raney 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.