Ruqayya
A feminine Arabic name meaning "one who quenches thirst".
Name Census estimates that about 168 living Americans carry the first name Ruqayya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ruqayya today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ruqayya births was 2024 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ruqayya. 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
168
~ 1 in 2,040,204 Americans
Peak year
2024
23 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,561
Tracked since 1996
Popularity
Ruqayya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ruqayya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 76 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
Ruqayya 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 Ruqayya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ruqayyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ruqayya
The name Ruqayya is an Arabic feminine given name derived from the root word "raqa" which means "to ascend" or "to rise." It is believed to have originated in the Arabian Peninsula during the early days of Islam.
Ruqayya was the name of one of the daughters of the Prophet Muhammad and his first wife Khadijah. She was born around 604 CE in Mecca and died in 624 CE in Medina. Ruqayya's birth was a significant event in the early Islamic community, and her name holds great importance in the Islamic tradition.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ruqayya can be found in the Sirah, the biographical literature about the life of Prophet Muhammad. The name is also mentioned in the Hadith, the collection of sayings and actions attributed to the Prophet.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Ruqayya. One such figure was Ruqayya bint Ali, the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima, who lived in the 7th century CE. She was known for her piety and devotion to Islam.
Another influential figure was Ruqayya Bint Mus'ab, a 9th-century Arab poet and scholar from Medina. She was renowned for her knowledge of Arabic literature and her contributions to the field of poetry.
In the 12th century, Ruqayya Begum was a prominent figure in the Mughal Empire of India. She was the daughter of Emperor Akbar and played a significant role in the political and cultural affairs of the empire.
Ruqayya Khatun was a 16th-century Persian princess and poet who was renowned for her literary works and her patronage of the arts. She lived during the Safavid dynasty and was known for her influential poetry.
Another notable figure was Ruqayya Al-Mouzafariya, a 13th-century Syrian scholar and Sufi mystic. She was respected for her knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and her contributions to the study of Sufism.
People
Ruqayya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ruqayya 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
Ruqayya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ruqayya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 168 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ruqayya 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 2,040,204 US residents.
Is Ruqayya a common name?
We classify Ruqayya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 169 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ruqayya most popular?
The single biggest year for Ruqayya was 2024, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ruqayya is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ruqayya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ruqayya 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.
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.