Richa
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "wealthy" or "prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 623 living Americans carry the first name Richa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Richa today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Richa births was 2007 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Richa. 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 Richa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
623
~ 1 in 550,167 Americans
Peak year
2007
32 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2017 SSA rank
#13,805
Tracked since 1968
Census
Richa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,510 people with the first name Richa, which placed it at #6,405 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
#6,405
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,510 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
91.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Richa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Richa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.9%. The next largest groups are White (4.8%) and Black (2.0%). 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 Richa 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 Richa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander91.9% · 2,306
- White4.8% · 121
- Black or African American2.0% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 22
- Two or more races0.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Popularity
Richa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Richa from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 257 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Richa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Richa 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 Richa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Richas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Richa
The name Richa has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language from the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "riccha," which means "desire" or "wish." The name likely emerged in ancient India, where Sanskrit was widely used as a scholarly and religious language.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Mahabharata, a renowned Indian epic dating back to around the 8th century BCE. In the text, Richa is mentioned as the name of a female character, though not much is known about her significance or role.
Throughout history, the name Richa has been borne by several notable individuals. One such person was Richa Mukherjee, an Indian author and journalist who lived from 1908 to 1998. She is known for her contributions to Bengali literature and her work in promoting women's rights and education.
Another prominent figure was Richa Sharma, a celebrated Indian classical dancer who lived from 1924 to 2003. She was a renowned exponent of the Kathak dance form and received numerous accolades, including the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors.
In the field of art, Richa Nath (born 1971) is a notable Indian contemporary artist known for her mixed-media installations and sculptures. Her work often explores themes of identity, memory, and the human experience.
Richa Chadha (born 1986) is a popular Indian actress who has appeared in numerous Bollywood films and web series. She is known for her versatile performances and has won several awards for her acting abilities.
Richa Gangopadhyay (born 1984) is an Indian classical vocalist and a leading exponent of the Khyal style of Hindustani classical music. She has received several prestigious awards, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, for her contributions to Indian classical music.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Richa throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich cultural tapestry of their respective regions.
People
Richa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Richa 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
Richa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Richa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 623 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Richa 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 550,167 US residents.
Is Richa a common name?
We classify Richa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 640 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Richa most popular?
The single biggest year for Richa was 2007, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Richa 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 Richa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,510 people with the name Richa, or 0.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,405 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 Richa 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 Richa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Richa leans strongly female. 2,473 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 34 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Richa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Richa is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.9%. The next largest groups are White (4.8%) and Black (2.0%). 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 Richa most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Richa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.9% (2,306 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 Richa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Richa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Richa 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 Richa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Richa 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 Richa 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 Richa?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Richa at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.