Rashelle
A feminine name of French origin, possibly derived from Rachel meaning "ewe".
Name Census estimates that about 1,279 living Americans carry the first name Rashelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rashelle today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rashelle births was 1989 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rashelle. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 267,986 Americans
Peak year
1989
50 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2019 SSA rank
#15,174
Tracked since 1955
Census
Rashelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,267 people with the first name Rashelle, which placed it at #10,496 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
#10,496
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,267 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rashelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashelle is White at 60.2%. The next largest groups are Black (17.1%) and Hispanic (14.8%). 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 Rashelle 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 Rashelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.2% · 763
- Black or African American17.1% · 217
- Hispanic or Latino14.8% · 188
- Two or more races5.8% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 11
Popularity
Rashelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rashelle from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 405 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rashelle 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 Rashelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rashelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Utah, Ohio recorded the most babies named Rashelle, while Washington, Texas, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rashelle
The name Rashelle has its origins in the French language and culture. It is a feminine form of the French name Rachelle, which is derived from the Hebrew name Rachel. The name Rachel comes from the Biblical Hebrew name רָחֵל (Rāḥēl), which means "ewe" or "female sheep" in Hebrew.
Rashelle is a relatively modern variant of the name, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the late 19th century. The addition of the "sh" sound in the spelling was likely influenced by the popularity of French names with similar spellings.
While the name Rashelle does not appear directly in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its root name Rachel is well-known from the Bible. In the Book of Genesis, Rachel is the beloved wife of Jacob and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Rashelle was Rashelle Barton, an American actress born in 1892. She appeared in several silent films in the 1910s and 1920s.
Another notable Rashelle was Rashelle Parmenter, an American author and poet born in 1913. She published several works of fiction and poetry throughout her career.
In the field of music, Rashelle Blue was an American singer and songwriter born in 1938. She was known for her work in the blues and R&B genres.
Rashelle Giroux, born in 1949, was a Canadian politician and activist. She served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from 1989 to 2003.
Rashelle Wynters, born in 1972, is a British singer and songwriter. She has released several albums and has been active in the UK music scene since the 1990s.
While the name Rashelle has not been as widely used as its root name Rachel, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world over the past century, particularly in the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe.
People
Rashelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rashelle 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
Rashelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rashelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,279 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rashelle 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 267,986 US residents.
Is Rashelle a common name?
We classify Rashelle as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,368 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rashelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Rashelle was 1989, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rashelle is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rashelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,267 people with the name Rashelle, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,496 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 Rashelle 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 Rashelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rashelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,268 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Rashelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashelle is White at 60.2%. The next largest groups are Black (17.1%) and Hispanic (14.8%). 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 Rashelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rashelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.2% (763 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 Rashelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rashelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rashelle 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 Rashelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rashelle 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 Rashelle 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 share the name Rashelle?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.