Roohi
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "soul" or "spirit".
Name Census estimates that about 114 living Americans carry the first name Roohi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Roohi today is around 5 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roohi births was 2024 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roohi. 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 Roohi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
114
~ 1 in 3,006,617 Americans
Peak year
2024
22 babies that year
Average age
5
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,740
Tracked since 2015
Census
Roohi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 333 people with the first name Roohi, which placed it at #27,468 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
#27,468
National first-name rank
People counted
333
333 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
88.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roohi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roohi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.3%. The next largest groups are White (9.3%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Roohi 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 Roohi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander88.3% · 294
- White9.3% · 31
- Two or more races2.1% · 7
- Black or African American0.3% · 1
Popularity
Roohi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roohi from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 83 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roohi 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 Roohi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Roohis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Roohi
The name Roohi is believed to have its origins in the Persian language, with roots dating back to ancient Persia, now known as Iran. One possible etymology suggests that the name is derived from the Persian word "ruh," meaning "soul" or "spirit," indicating a connection to the spiritual realm or the essence of life.
Another theory traces the name's origins to the Arabic word "rawha," which translates to "garden" or "paradise." This association could signify beauty, serenity, and a connection with nature. The name's spelling variations, such as Ruhi and Rohi, further reinforce its Persian and Arabic roots.
Historically, the name Roohi has been mentioned in various Persian literary works and poetry, indicating its longstanding presence in the region's cultural fabric. One notable example is the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, whose full name was Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, and whose poetry often explored themes of spirituality and love.
In the realm of religious texts, the name Roohi is not widely documented, but its root words, such as "ruh" and "rawha," hold significant meaning in Islamic traditions, representing the spiritual essence and the idea of paradise, respectively.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Roohi:
1. Roohi Banu (1668-1719), an Indian princess and the daughter of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
2. Roohi Safavi (1915-1999), an Iranian painter and sculptor known for her contributions to modern Iranian art.
3. Roohi Sayed (1927-2014), an Indian poet and writer who wrote in the Urdu language and received numerous literary awards.
4. Roohi Reazat (born 1941), a Pakistani classical singer and musicologist, recognized for her expertise in the traditional music of South Asia.
5. Roohi Bano (born 1957), an Indian politician and former member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's Parliament.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Roohi throughout history, each contributing to their respective fields and cultures.
People
Roohi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roohi 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
Roohi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roohi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 114 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roohi 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 3,006,617 US residents.
Is Roohi a common name?
We classify Roohi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 115 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roohi most popular?
The single biggest year for Roohi was 2024, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roohi is about 5 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roohi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 333 people with the name Roohi, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,468 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 Roohi 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 Roohi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roohi appears almost entirely female. Of the 326 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Roohi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roohi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.3%. The next largest groups are White (9.3%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Roohi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Roohi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.3% (294 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 Roohi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roohi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Roohi 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 Roohi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roohi 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 Roohi 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 share the name Roohi?
Want to know how many people have the name Roohi? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.