Rashonda
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a blend of Rashida and Wanda.
Name Census estimates that about 1,408 living Americans carry the first name Rashonda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rashonda today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rashonda births was 1988 (87 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rashonda. 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 243,433 Americans
Peak year
1988
87 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2006 SSA rank
#14,780
Tracked since 1968
Census
Rashonda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,195 people with the first name Rashonda, which placed it at #10,939 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
#10,939
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,195 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
90.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rashonda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashonda is Black at 90.1%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Rashonda 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 Rashonda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American90.1% · 1,077
- White4.3% · 51
- Two or more races2.9% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 12
Popularity
Rashonda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rashonda from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 639 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
Rashonda 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 Rashonda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rashondas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. North Carolina, Illinois, Florida recorded the most babies named Rashonda, while Virginia, Indiana, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rashonda
The name Rashonda is a combination of two words from the ancient Swahili language, spoken primarily in East Africa. The prefix "Ra" comes from the Swahili word "raha," meaning joy or happiness, while "shonda" is derived from the word "shondana," which means to adorn or decorate.
Historically, the name Rashonda was given to children born in regions of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, as it was believed to bring joy and adornment to the family. The earliest known record of the name dates back to the 15th century, when it was mentioned in a collection of Swahili folk tales known as the "Utendi wa Mwana Kupona."
In the 17th century, a prominent Swahili trader named Rashonda Ibn Bakari was renowned for his successful trade routes along the East African coast. His legacy helped popularize the name among the coastal communities.
The name gained further recognition in the 19th century when Rashonda Mtawali, a renowned Swahili poet and scholar, wrote a series of celebrated works that explored the rich cultural heritage of the region.
Another notable figure was Rashonda Makeba, a South African singer and civil rights activist who was born in 1932. She used her powerful voice to raise awareness about the injustices of apartheid and became a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement.
In the 20th century, Rashonda Williams, an American athlete born in 1972, made a name for herself as a track and field sprinter. She won multiple medals in the Olympic Games and World Championships, cementing her place as one of the fastest women in the world.
While the name Rashonda has its roots in East Africa, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly in the United States, where it gained popularity in the latter half of the 20th century.
People
Rashonda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rashonda 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
Rashonda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rashonda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,408 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rashonda 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 243,433 US residents.
Is Rashonda a common name?
We classify Rashonda as "Rare". It ranks above 92.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,499 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rashonda most popular?
The single biggest year for Rashonda was 1988, when 87 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rashonda is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rashonda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,195 people with the name Rashonda, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,939 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 Rashonda 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 Rashonda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rashonda appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,195 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Rashonda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashonda is Black at 90.1%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Rashonda most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rashonda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.1% (1,077 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 Rashonda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rashonda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rashonda 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 Rashonda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rashonda 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 Rashonda 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 Rashonda?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.