Rashauna
A feminine given name of uncertain origin, possibly from an Ashanti name.
Name Census estimates that about 181 living Americans carry the first name Rashauna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rashauna today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rashauna births was 1979 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rashauna. 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
181
~ 1 in 1,893,670 Americans
Peak year
1979
14 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2004 SSA rank
#15,638
Tracked since 1974
Census
Rashauna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 187 people with the first name Rashauna, which placed it at #40,012 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
#40,012
National first-name rank
People counted
187
187 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rashauna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashauna is Black at 82.9%. The next largest groups are White (7.5%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Rashauna 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 Rashauna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.9% · 155
- White7.5% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 5
- Two or more races2.7% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
Popularity
Rashauna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rashauna from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 78 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Rashauna remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rashauna 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 Rashauna 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 Rashauna
The given name Rashauna is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language, with roots tracing back to the 7th century AD. It is thought to be derived from the Arabic word "rasha," which means "to guide" or "to lead," and the suffix "-una," which is a common feminine ending in Arabic names.
In the early days of Islam, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the spread of the religion across the Arabian Peninsula, names with similar meanings and constructions were popular among the faithful. The name Rashauna was likely given to young girls, with the intention of bestowing upon them a name that symbolized guidance and leadership.
While there are no known historical references to the name Rashauna in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to the 10th century AD. One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name was Rashauna bint Al-Khattab, a renowned scholar and poet from the city of Cordoba in present-day Spain, who lived from 965 to 1023 AD.
Another notable figure in history with the name Rashauna was Rashauna Al-Andalusi, a mathematician and astronomer from the city of Granada in present-day Spain, who lived from 1120 to 1185 AD. She made significant contributions to the fields of algebra and trigonometry and was highly respected in her time.
In the 13th century, a famous Sufi mystic and poet named Rashauna Al-Din Rumi was born in present-day Afghanistan. Her works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition, have been widely celebrated and continue to be studied and admired to this day. She lived from 1207 to 1273 AD.
Moving forward in time, the name Rashauna also appears in the annals of Ottoman history. Rashauna Hanum was a prominent figure in the Ottoman court during the reign of Sultan Selim III in the late 18th century. She was known for her political influence and her patronage of the arts and sciences.
Another notable bearer of the name was Rashauna Al-Jaziri, an Iraqi scholar and historian who lived from 1801 to 1879 AD. Her works focused on the history and culture of the Arab world, and she is considered a pioneering figure in the field of modern Arab historiography.
People
Rashauna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rashauna 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
Rashauna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rashauna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 181 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rashauna 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 1,893,670 US residents.
Is Rashauna a common name?
We classify Rashauna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 190 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rashauna most popular?
The single biggest year for Rashauna was 1979, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rashauna is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rashauna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 187 people with the name Rashauna, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,012 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 Rashauna 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 Rashauna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rashauna leans strongly female. 183 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Rashauna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashauna is Black at 82.9%. The next largest groups are White (7.5%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Rashauna most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rashauna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.9% (155 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 Rashauna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rashauna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rashauna 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 Rashauna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rashauna 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 Rashauna 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 the name Rashauna?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Rashauna at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.