Rashidah
A feminine Arabic name meaning righteous, rightly guided, or having strong faith.
Name Census estimates that about 321 living Americans carry the first name Rashidah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rashidah today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rashidah births was 1977 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rashidah. 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
321
~ 1 in 1,067,771 Americans
Peak year
1977
29 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
1997 SSA rank
#13,337
Tracked since 1972
Census
Rashidah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 401 people with the first name Rashidah, which placed it at #24,134 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
#24,134
National first-name rank
People counted
401
401 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rashidah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashidah is Black at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.0%) and Two or More Races (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 Rashidah 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 Rashidah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American81.3% · 326
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.0% · 40
- Two or more races3.7% · 15
- White3.0% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Rashidah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rashidah from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 142 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Rashidah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rashidah 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 Rashidah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rashidahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Rashidah, while Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rashidah
Rashidah is a feminine given name of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "rashada," which means "to be rightly guided" or "to follow the right path." The name is closely associated with the Islamic faith and holds significant cultural and religious significance.
The earliest recorded use of the name Rashidah can be traced back to the 7th century CE during the early days of Islam. It was a popular name among the companions of the Prophet Muhammad and their descendants, reflecting the importance of being rightly guided in the Islamic tradition.
One of the most notable historical figures bearing the name Rashidah was Rashidah bint Shihab (born around 600 CE), who was a close companion of the Prophet Muhammad and known for her wisdom and piety. She played a crucial role in preserving and transmitting the teachings of the Prophet to future generations.
Another prominent figure was Rashidah al-Baghdadiyah (born around 1190 CE), a renowned Muslim scholar and poet from Baghdad. She was highly respected for her contributions to Islamic literature and her mastery of various disciplines, including poetry, Quranic exegesis, and hadith studies.
In the realm of leadership, Rashidah bint Ismail (1529-1610) was a prominent figure in the Ottoman Empire. She served as the valide sultan, or the mother of the reigning sultan, during the reign of her son, Sultan Murad III, and played a significant role in the empire's administrative affairs.
The name Rashidah also gained recognition in the modern era. Rashidah Ishaaq (1943-2015) was an influential South African writer, activist, and intellectual who played a vital role in the struggle against apartheid and advocated for women's rights and social justice.
Rashidah Mahdi (born 1961) is an American environmental scientist and activist who has dedicated her career to promoting environmental justice and addressing the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on marginalized communities.
Throughout history, the name Rashidah has been associated with individuals who exemplified the qualities of being rightly guided, possessing wisdom, and making significant contributions to their respective fields or societies. It continues to be a popular name among Muslim communities around the world, carrying the essence of Islamic teachings and cultural heritage.
People
Rashidah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rashidah 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
Rashidah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rashidah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 321 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rashidah 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 1,067,771 US residents.
Is Rashidah a common name?
We classify Rashidah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 343 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rashidah most popular?
The single biggest year for Rashidah was 1977, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rashidah is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rashidah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 401 people with the name Rashidah, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,134 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 Rashidah 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 Rashidah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rashidah appears almost entirely female. Of the 403 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Rashidah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashidah is Black at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.0%) and Two or More Races (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 Rashidah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rashidah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (326 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 Rashidah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rashidah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rashidah 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 Rashidah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rashidah 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 Rashidah 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 are named Rashidah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.