Rashon
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "wise" or "mature".
Name Census estimates that about 1,917 living Americans carry the first name Rashon. It is a predominantly male name (94.0% of registrations). The average person named Rashon today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rashon births was 1994 (75 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rashon. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 178,797 Americans
Peak year
1994
75 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,980
Tracked since 1966
Census
Rashon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,415 people with the first name Rashon, which placed it at #9,713 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
#9,713
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,415 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rashon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashon is Black at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.4%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Rashon 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 Rashon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.3% · 1,221
- Two or more races6.4% · 91
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 63
- White1.7% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Rashon
Rashon leans heavily male at 94.0% of total registrations, but 118 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rashon as a male name
- Ranked #11,980 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (66 births)
Rashon as a female name
- Ranked #16,279 in 1999
- 5 female births in 1999
- Peak: 1984 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rashon leans strongly male. 1,274 people counted with this name were male (89.9%), compared with 143 female bearers (10.1%).
Popularity
Rashon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rashon 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 550 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
Rashon 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 Rashon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rashons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the most babies named Rashon, while Texas, Louisiana, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 62 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rashon
The name Rashon has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, tracing back to the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Arabic word "rasheed," which means "righteous," "wise," or "virtuous." This name was particularly popular among the early Muslim communities in the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest known references to the name Rashon can be found in the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. It is mentioned as a virtue and quality to be aspired to by believers. As a result, many parents chose to name their sons Rashon, hoping they would embody the virtues associated with the name.
The name Rashon gained further prominence during the Golden Age of Islamic civilization, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th century. During this period, several scholars, philosophers, and poets bore this name, contributing to its widespread recognition and prestige.
One of the most notable individuals named Rashon was Rashon al-Kindi, a renowned philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 9th century AD. He is considered one of the founders of Arab philosophy and made significant contributions to the fields of optics and medicine.
Another prominent figure was Rashon al-Biruni, a scholar and polymath who lived in the 11th century AD. He was renowned for his works on astronomy, mathematics, and geography, and is often referred to as the "Father of Geodesy."
In the realm of literature, Rashon al-Ghazzali was a prolific writer and poet who lived in the 12th century AD. His works, which explored themes of spirituality and ethics, were widely read and admired across the Islamic world.
During the Mamluk era in Egypt and Syria, from the 13th to the 16th century, the name Rashon continued to be popular. One notable figure from this period was Rashon al-Din al-Suyuti, a renowned scholar and polymath who made significant contributions to the fields of Qur'anic studies, hadith, and linguistics.
In the 14th century, Rashon al-Din Fazlullah, a Persian historian and writer, authored the famous work "Jami' al-tawarikh" (Compendium of Chronicles), which provided a comprehensive history of the world from its creation up to his time.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Rashon, reflecting its rich cultural and historical significance within the Arabic and Islamic traditions.
People
Rashon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rashon 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
Rashon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rashon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,917 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rashon 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 178,797 US residents.
Is Rashon a common name?
We classify Rashon as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,982 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rashon most popular?
The single biggest year for Rashon was 1994, when 75 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rashon 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 Rashon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,415 people with the name Rashon, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,713 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 Rashon 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 Rashon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rashon leans strongly male. 1,274 people counted with this name were male (89.9%), compared with 143 female bearers (10.1%). 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 Rashon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashon is Black at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.4%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Rashon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rashon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.3% (1,221 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 Rashon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rashon a male name?
Yes, 94.0% of people registered as Rashon 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 Rashon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rashon 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 Rashon 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 Rashon?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Rashon at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.