Rashawn
A masculine name of possible African American origin meaning "courageous ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 6,864 living Americans carry the first name Rashawn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 90.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Rashawn today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rashawn births was 1993 (273 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rashawn. 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
6.9K
~ 1 in 49,935 Americans
Peak year
1993
273 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,078
Tracked since 1966
Gender
Gender distribution for Rashawn
Rashawn leans heavily male at 90.0% of total registrations, but 709 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rashawn as a male name
- Ranked #3,078 in 2024
- 40 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (248 births)
Rashawn as a female name
- Ranked #17,327 in 2001
- 5 female births in 2001
- Peak: 1979 (36 births)
Popularity
Rashawn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rashawn from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,335 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rashawn 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 Rashawn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rashawns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Ohio recorded the most babies named Rashawn, while Wisconsin, Washington, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 165 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rashawn
The name Rashawn is an English given name that originated in the 20th century as an African American name. It is a combination of the names Rashad and Shawn, both of which have Arabic and Hebrew origins respectively.
The name Rashad is derived from the Arabic word "rashid," meaning "rightly guided" or "righteous." It has its roots in the Islamic faith and has been used as a name in Arab cultures for centuries. On the other hand, the name Shawn is a modern English variant of the Hebrew name "Shavuon," which means "gift from God."
While there are no known historical references to the name Rashawn in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it gained popularity in the United States during the latter half of the 20th century, particularly among African American families. The earliest recorded examples of the name can be traced back to the 1960s and 1970s.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Rashawn was Rashawn Brazell, an American football player who played as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Brazell was born in 1974 and played for teams such as the New Orleans Saints and the Oakland Raiders.
Another notable person with the name Rashawn is Rashawn Breedlove, an American basketball player who played in the NBA Development League and various international leagues in the early 2000s. Breedlove was born in 1981 and attended the University of Connecticut.
Rashawn Ray is an American sociologist and academic who specializes in race relations and social inequalities. He is currently a professor at the University of Maryland and has published several works on topics such as police-community relations and racial bias. Ray was born in 1983.
Rashawn Slater is a professional American football player who currently plays as an offensive tackle for the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL. He was born in 1997 and was selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Rashawn Tinsley is an American former professional basketball player who played in the NBA and various international leagues in the early 2000s. Tinsley was born in 1977 and attended the University of Southern California.
People
Rashawn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rashawn 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
Rashawn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rashawn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,864 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rashawn 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 49,935 US residents.
Is Rashawn a common name?
We classify Rashawn as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,080 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rashawn most popular?
The single biggest year for Rashawn was 1993, when 273 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rashawn is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Rashawn a male name?
Yes, 90.0% of people registered as Rashawn 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.
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.