Ruqaiyah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "a woman with beautiful eyes and attributes".
Name Census estimates that about 66 living Americans carry the first name Ruqaiyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ruqaiyah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ruqaiyah births was 2003 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ruqaiyah. 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 Ruqaiyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ruqaiyah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
66
~ 1 in 5,193,248 Americans
Peak year
2003
9 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,159
Tracked since 1997
Popularity
Ruqaiyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ruqaiyah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 29 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ruqaiyah 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 Ruqaiyah 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 Ruqaiyah
The name Ruqaiyah is an Arabic name with roots that stretch back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic verb "raqa," which means "to rise" or "to ascend." The name symbolizes a person who is elevated or has lofty aspirations.
Ruqaiyah is a name with significant religious and historical significance in Islam. It was the name of one of the daughters of the Prophet Muhammad and his first wife, Khadijah. Ruqaiyah, born around 601 CE in Mecca, was the third daughter of the Prophet and is revered as a pious and virtuous woman in Islamic tradition.
The earliest recorded use of the name Ruqaiyah can be found in the biographies of the Prophet Muhammad and his family, written by early Islamic scholars and historians. These accounts provide insights into her life and her role in the early Islamic community.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Ruqaiyah. One of the most famous was Ruqaiyah Sultan Begum (1542-1626), a Mughal princess and the wife of Prince Salim, who later became the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. She was known for her patronage of arts, architecture, and her philanthropic endeavors.
Another prominent figure was Ruqaiyah bint Abi Lahab (570-624 CE), who was the daughter of Abu Lahab, an uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. Despite her family's initial opposition to Islam, she embraced the religion and became a devoted follower of the Prophet.
In the 12th century, Ruqaiyah bint Alam Shah (1191-1238) was a prominent Islamic scholar and poet from Iran. She was renowned for her expertise in various fields, including Islamic jurisprudence, hadith (prophetic traditions), and Arabic literature.
During the Ottoman Empire, Ruqaiyah Sultan (1711-1768) was a prominent figure as the daughter of Sultan Ahmed III and the wife of Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha. She was known for her philanthropy and patronage of various architectural projects in Istanbul.
Ruqaiyah Khan (1917-1986) was an influential Indian Muslim leader and social reformer. She played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and fought for women's rights and educational opportunities for girls.
People
Ruqaiyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ruqaiyah 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
Ruqaiyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ruqaiyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 66 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ruqaiyah 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 5,193,248 US residents.
Is Ruqaiyah a common name?
We classify Ruqaiyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 67 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ruqaiyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Ruqaiyah was 2003, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ruqaiyah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Ruqaiyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ruqaiyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ruqaiyah 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 Ruqaiyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ruqaiyah 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 Ruqaiyah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Ruqaiyah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.