Rasaan
An Arabic masculine name meaning "strong, firm, or established".
Name Census estimates that about 211 living Americans carry the first name Rasaan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rasaan today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rasaan births was 2000 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rasaan. 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
211
~ 1 in 1,624,428 Americans
Peak year
2000
16 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2019 SSA rank
#13,681
Tracked since 1972
Census
Rasaan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 217 people with the first name Rasaan, which placed it at #36,520 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
#36,520
National first-name rank
People counted
217
217 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rasaan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rasaan is Black at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.1%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Rasaan 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 Rasaan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.1% · 189
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 9
- Two or more races4.1% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 5
- White1.8% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Rasaan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rasaan from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 90 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
Rasaan 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 Rasaan 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 Rasaan
The name Rasaan is believed to have originated from the Arabic language and culture, tracing its roots back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Arabic word "raas," which means "head" or "leader," and is often associated with concepts of authority, wisdom, and leadership.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rasaan can be found in the literary works of the 10th century Arab poet and scholar, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani. In his anthology of poetry and prose, he mentions a poet named Rasaan ibn Abi al-Qasim, who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate in the 8th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Rasaan was particularly popular among the Arab nobility and scholarly circles. It was often given to individuals who were expected to assume positions of leadership or were renowned for their intellectual pursuits.
In the 12th century, a prominent Sufi mystic and scholar named Rasaan al-Qasri was renowned for his teachings on spiritual enlightenment and his contributions to the field of Islamic philosophy. His writings and teachings had a significant impact on the development of Sufism in the Middle East.
During the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over vast territories in the Middle East and North Africa from the 14th to the early 20th century, the name Rasaan was also used among the ruling elite. One notable figure was Rasaan Pasha, a high-ranking military commander who played a crucial role in the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus in the late 16th century.
In the 19th century, a renowned Egyptian scholar and reformist named Rasaan al-Khuli was instrumental in promoting modern educational reforms in Egypt. His efforts to modernize the educational system and incorporate Western ideas while preserving Islamic values had a lasting impact on the country's intellectual and cultural landscape.
Another notable figure with the name Rasaan was Rasaan al-Khayri, a Syrian poet and literary scholar who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was renowned for his contributions to Arabic literature and his efforts to preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage of the region.
These examples illustrate the diverse historical and cultural contexts in which the name Rasaan has been used, often associated with leadership, scholarly pursuits, and intellectual achievements across various regions and time periods.
People
Rasaan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rasaan 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
Rasaan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rasaan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 211 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rasaan 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 1,624,428 US residents.
Is Rasaan a common name?
We classify Rasaan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 218 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rasaan most popular?
The single biggest year for Rasaan was 2000, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rasaan 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 Rasaan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 217 people with the name Rasaan, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,520 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 Rasaan 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 Rasaan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rasaan leans strongly male. 208 people counted with this name were male (94.1%), compared with 13 female bearers (5.9%). 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 Rasaan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rasaan is Black at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.1%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Rasaan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rasaan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.1% (189 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 Rasaan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rasaan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rasaan 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 Rasaan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rasaan 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 Rasaan 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 common is the name Rasaan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.