Rawlin
A masculine name likely derived from the French surname Rollin or Rowland.
Name Census estimates that about 175 living Americans carry the first name Rawlin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rawlin today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rawlin births was 2013 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rawlin. 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
175
~ 1 in 1,958,596 Americans
Peak year
2013
14 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,982
Tracked since 1921
Census
Rawlin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 248 people with the first name Rawlin, which placed it at #33,395 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
#33,395
National first-name rank
People counted
248
248 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rawlin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rawlin is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Rawlin 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 Rawlin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.8% · 183
- Black or African American10.5% · 26
- Two or more races5.6% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Rawlin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rawlin from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 62 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rawlin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rawlin 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 Rawlin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rawlin
The name Rawlin is an English variant of the Germanic name Radulf, which itself is a combination of the elements "rad" meaning "counsel" and "wulf" meaning "wolf." The name was popular during the Middle Ages, particularly in areas of England and Scotland.
Rawlin is thought to have originated as a nickname for someone who was considered a wise and cunning advisor, with the wolf symbolizing these qualities. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in the Domesday Book, a census undertaken by William the Conqueror in 1086.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Rawlin de Huntingfield, an English knight who fought in the Crusades during the late 12th century. Another early figure was Rawlin de Neville, a 13th-century English nobleman who served as a justice and sheriff in Yorkshire.
In the 14th century, Rawlin Lumbard was a renowned merchant and banker in London, known for his wealth and influence in the city's financial affairs. A century later, Rawlin Woodville was a prominent English courtier during the Wars of the Roses, serving as a close advisor to King Edward IV.
During the 16th century, Rawlin Arundell was a notable English Catholic martyr who was executed for his faith during the reign of Elizabeth I in 1588. In the following century, Rawlin Lacy was an English Puritan minister and writer who advocated for religious reform.
While the name Rawlin has declined in popularity in modern times, it has a rich history and has been borne by notable figures throughout the centuries, reflecting its origins as a name associated with wisdom, cunning, and leadership.
People
Rawlin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rawlin 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
Rawlin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rawlin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 175 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rawlin 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 1,958,596 US residents.
Is Rawlin a common name?
We classify Rawlin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 228 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rawlin most popular?
The single biggest year for Rawlin was 2013, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rawlin is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rawlin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 248 people with the name Rawlin, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,395 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 Rawlin 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 Rawlin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rawlin appears almost entirely male. Of the 248 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Rawlin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rawlin is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Rawlin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rawlin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.8% (183 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 Rawlin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rawlin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rawlin 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 Rawlin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rawlin 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 Rawlin 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 called Rawlin?
You can see how many Americans are named Rawlin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.