Rema
An Indian feminine name meaning "beautiful woman".
Name Census estimates that about 703 living Americans carry the first name Rema. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Rema today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rema births was 1918 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rema. 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 Rema with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
703
~ 1 in 487,560 Americans
Peak year
1918
28 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
1923 SSA rank
#4,762
Tracked since 1907
Census
Rema in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,262 people with the first name Rema, which placed it at #10,520 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
#10,520
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,262 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rema
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rema is White at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.8%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Rema 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 Rema at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.0% · 694
- Asian and Pacific Islander19.8% · 250
- Black or African American15.6% · 197
- Two or more races4.0% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Rema
Out of the 1,209 babies given the name Rema since 1880, 99.2% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Rema as a male name
- Ranked #4,762 in 1923
- 5 male births in 1923
- Peak: 1921 (5 births)
Rema as a female name
- Ranked #14,857 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (28 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rema leans strongly female. 1,213 people counted with this name were female (96.7%), compared with 41 male bearers (3.3%).
Popularity
Rema: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rema from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 167 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rema 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 Rema during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Remas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Tennessee, Arkansas, California recorded the most babies named Rema, while California, Arkansas, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rema
The name Rema has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that is the root of many modern languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. Rema is derived from the Sanskrit word "reman," which means "joy" or "delight." This name was popular in ancient India during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rema can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Ramayana. In this epic, Rema is a minor character, a princess who marries the hero, Rama. While not a central figure, her name's inclusion in this important text indicates its use and significance in ancient Indian culture.
In the 7th century CE, there was a notable Indian philosopher and scholar named Rema Bhatta, who wrote extensively on the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. His works, such as the "Vedanta-Tattva-Viveka," had a significant impact on the development of Indian philosophical thought.
Moving forward in history, Rema was also the name of a 13th-century Sufi poet and mystic from present-day Iran. Known as Rema Qalandar, he is revered in the Sufi tradition for his devotional poetry and spiritual teachings.
In more recent times, one of the most famous individuals with the name Rema was Rema Rahman, a Bangladeshi artist and activist born in 1962. Rahman was known for her vibrant paintings and her advocacy for women's rights and social justice in Bangladesh.
Another notable figure was Rema Hort Mann, an American actress and director born in 1920. She was best known for her work on Broadway, where she directed several successful productions, including the original Broadway run of "The Miracle Worker" in 1959.
While the name Rema may not be as widely used today as it once was, its rich history and cultural significance, spanning from ancient India to the modern era, make it a name with a deep and fascinating heritage.
People
Rema + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rema 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
Rema: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rema?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 703 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rema 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 487,560 US residents.
Is Rema a common name?
We classify Rema as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,209 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rema most popular?
The single biggest year for Rema was 1918, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rema is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rema in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,262 people with the name Rema, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,520 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 Rema 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 Rema?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rema leans strongly female. 1,213 people counted with this name were female (96.7%), compared with 41 male bearers (3.3%). 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 Rema?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rema is White at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.8%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Rema most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rema in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.0% (694 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 Rema in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rema a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Rema 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 Rema still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rema 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 Rema 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 have the name Rema?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Rema, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.