Rayshad
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "guided one" or "guided by God".
Name Census estimates that about 209 living Americans carry the first name Rayshad. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rayshad today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rayshad births was 2000 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rayshad. 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
209
~ 1 in 1,639,973 Americans
Peak year
2000
13 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2017 SSA rank
#13,800
Tracked since 1983
Census
Rayshad in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 174 people with the first name Rayshad, which placed it at #41,801 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
#41,801
National first-name rank
People counted
174
174 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
91.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rayshad
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rayshad is Black at 91.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.6%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Rayshad 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 Rayshad at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American91.4% · 159
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 8
- Two or more races2.3% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 3
Popularity
Rayshad: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rayshad from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 79 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Rayshad remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rayshad 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 Rayshad 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 Rayshad
The name Rayshad is of Arabic origin and is believed to have been derived from the Arabic word "rashid," which means "rightly guided" or "righteous." This name was likely first used in the Middle East during the early days of Islam, around the 7th century AD.
The name Rayshad is closely related to other Arabic names such as Rashid, Rashad, and Rasheed, all of which share the same root word. It is possible that the name was initially used as a descriptive term to praise someone for their righteous behavior or for being on the right path.
While there are no definitive records of the name appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is likely that the name was used among Arab communities during the early Islamic era. The earliest recorded examples of the name Rayshad are difficult to trace, as record-keeping practices were not as comprehensive in the ancient world.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Rayshad. One of the earliest recorded figures was Rayshad al-Din, a 13th-century Persian philosopher and mathematician who made significant contributions to the fields of logic and metaphysics. Another prominent figure was Rayshad Pasha, an Ottoman statesman and military leader who lived in the 16th century and played a crucial role in the Ottoman Empire's expansion into Europe.
In the modern era, one of the most famous individuals with the name Rayshad was Rayshad Rashad, an American basketball player who was born in 1984 and played for several NBA teams, including the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics. Another notable Rayshad was Rayshad Brooks, an African American man who was tragically killed by police in Atlanta in 2020, sparking nationwide protests against police brutality.
Other notable individuals with the name Rayshad include Rayshad Osman, a Somali-American activist and community organizer who has worked to promote social justice and civil rights; Rayshad Gilmore, an American football player who played in the NFL; and Rayshad Williams, an American actor and filmmaker known for his work in independent films.
People
Rayshad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rayshad 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
Rayshad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rayshad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 209 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rayshad 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 1,639,973 US residents.
Is Rayshad a common name?
We classify Rayshad as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 213 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rayshad most popular?
The single biggest year for Rayshad was 2000, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rayshad is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rayshad in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 174 people with the name Rayshad, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,801 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 Rayshad 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 Rayshad?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rayshad appears almost entirely male. Of the 172 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Rayshad?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rayshad is Black at 91.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.6%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). 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 Rayshad most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rayshad in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.4% (159 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 Rayshad in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rayshad a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rayshad 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 Rayshad still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rayshad 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 Rayshad 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 Rayshad?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.