Rayden
A masculine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from "ray" or "rayed".
Name Census estimates that about 6,581 living Americans carry the first name Rayden. It is a predominantly male name (94.5% of registrations). The average person named Rayden today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rayden births was 2022 (416 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rayden. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Rayden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Rayden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.6K
~ 1 in 52,082 Americans
Peak year
2022
416 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#757
Tracked since 1991
Census
Rayden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,137 people with the first name Rayden, which placed it at #4,485 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
#4,485
National first-name rank
People counted
4.1K
4,137 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rayden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rayden is White at 47.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.1%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Rayden 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 Rayden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.7% · 1,975
- Hispanic or Latino21.1% · 874
- Black or African American10.2% · 420
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.6% · 396
- Two or more races9.3% · 385
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 87
Gender
Gender distribution for Rayden
Rayden leans heavily male at 94.5% of total registrations, but 367 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rayden as a male name
- Ranked #757 in 2024
- 336 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (398 births)
Rayden as a female name
- Ranked #11,884 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (29 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rayden leans strongly male. 3,862 people counted with this name were male (93.2%), compared with 281 female bearers (6.8%).
Popularity
Rayden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rayden from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,426 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rayden remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rayden 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 Rayden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Raydens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Rayden, while Wyoming, North Dakota, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 113 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rayden
The name Rayden is a modern English variation of the name Rayden, which has its origins in the Sanskrit language. The name Rayden is derived from the Sanskrit words "raj" meaning "king" and "dina" meaning "day." Thus, the name Rayden can be interpreted as "king of the day" or "king of light."
The name Rayden has no direct historical references or appearances in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, the components of the name, "raj" and "dina," have strong connections to Hindu mythology and Indian culture.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Rayden are relatively recent, dating back to the late 20th century. It is a modern name that has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in Western countries.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Rayden was Rayden Valkyrie, a Japanese-American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler born in 1981. He was known for his performances in various promotions such as Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
Another notable figure with the name Rayden is Rayden Bradfield, an Australian professional rugby league player born in 1993. He has played for several clubs in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition, including the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Canberra Raiders.
In the world of entertainment, Rayden is the name of a fictional character from the Mortal Kombat video game franchise. The character, a god of thunder and lightning, made his first appearance in the original Mortal Kombat game released in 1992.
In literature, Rayden is the name of a character in the novel "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman, which is part of the His Dark Materials trilogy. The character is a member of a race of beings known as the Mulefa.
Another individual named Rayden is Rayden Fogler, an American actor and musician born in 1987. He is best known for his role as Melchior Gabor in the Broadway musical "Spring Awakening," for which he received a Theatre World Award in 2007.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have carried the name Rayden, showcasing its diverse and modern usage across various fields and cultures.
People
Rayden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rayden 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
Rayden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rayden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,581 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rayden 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 52,082 US residents.
Is Rayden a common name?
We classify Rayden as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,637 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rayden most popular?
The single biggest year for Rayden was 2022, when 416 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rayden is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rayden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,137 people with the name Rayden, or 1.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,485 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 Rayden 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 Rayden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rayden leans strongly male. 3,862 people counted with this name were male (93.2%), compared with 281 female bearers (6.8%). 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 Rayden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rayden is White at 47.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.1%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Rayden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rayden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.7% (1,975 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 Rayden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rayden a male name?
Yes, 94.5% of people registered as Rayden 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 Rayden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rayden 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 Rayden 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 Rayden?
Find out how many Americans are named Rayden on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.