Rayshard
A name of English origin meaning "brave protector" or "courageous guard."
Name Census estimates that about 129 living Americans carry the first name Rayshard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rayshard today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rayshard births was 1989 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rayshard. 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
129
~ 1 in 2,657,010 Americans
Peak year
1989
10 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2008 SSA rank
#12,231
Tracked since 1986
Census
Rayshard in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 131 people with the first name Rayshard, which placed it at #48,547 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
#48,547
National first-name rank
People counted
131
131 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rayshard
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rayshard is Black at 92.4%. The next largest groups are White (3.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Rayshard 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 Rayshard at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.4% · 121
- White3.1% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 1
Popularity
Rayshard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rayshard from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 62 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Rayshard remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rayshard 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 Rayshard 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 Rayshard
The name Rayshard is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the United States in the 20th century. It appears to be a combination of the traditional English names Ray and Shard, with the latter being an archaic word meaning a fragment or splinter.
While the roots of the name can be traced back to Old English and Germanic languages, there are no known historical references or recorded instances of the name Rayshard being used prior to the late 20th century. Its unique spelling and blend of more common names suggest it was created as a distinctive and contemporary appellation.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Rayshard was Rayshard Brooks, an African American man who was tragically killed by police in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2020. His death sparked nationwide protests and heightened awareness of racial injustice and police brutality.
Another notable individual named Rayshard is Rayshard Darnell Terrell, an American basketball player who played for several teams in the NBA between 2004 and 2011. He was born in 1982 in Mobile, Alabama.
Rayshard Levingston is an American football player who played as a cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League (NFL) in 2007. He was born in 1984 in Valdosta, Georgia.
Rayshard Hairston is an American professional basketball player who has played in various leagues around the world, including the NBA G League and in countries like Japan and New Zealand. He was born in 1987 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Rayshard Thornton is an American basketball player who played college basketball for the University of Tennessee and was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the NBA in 2013. He was born in 1991 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
People
Rayshard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rayshard 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
Rayshard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rayshard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 129 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rayshard 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 2,657,010 US residents.
Is Rayshard a common name?
We classify Rayshard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 132 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rayshard most popular?
The single biggest year for Rayshard was 1989, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rayshard is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rayshard in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 131 people with the name Rayshard, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,547 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 Rayshard 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 Rayshard?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rayshard leans strongly male. 127 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 4 female bearers (3.1%). 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 Rayshard?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rayshard is Black at 92.4%. The next largest groups are White (3.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Rayshard most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rayshard in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.4% (121 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 Rayshard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rayshard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rayshard 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 Rayshard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rayshard 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 Rayshard 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 Rayshard?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.