2000
#22,011
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,098
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.41
Rare Last name
Ramachandran
A surname of Tamil origin referring to a devotee of the Hindu deity Rama, an avatar of Vishnu.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 3,343 Americans carry the last name Ramachandran. That puts it at #10,501 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.98 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 102,529 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Ramachandran surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Ramachandran with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
3.3K
1 in 102,529
Census rank
#10,501
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
1.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.9K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,915 bearers of the surname Ramachandran in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.98 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 10501st position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Ramachandran, the largest self-reported group is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.3%. The next largest groups are White (2.3%) and Two or More Races (2.0%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Ramachandran
The surname Ramachandran originated in India, specifically in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It is a combination of two Sanskrit words, "Rama" and "Chandra," which together mean "the moon god." The name dates back to the 8th century CE and is believed to have been derived from the ancient Hindu epic, the Ramayana.
In ancient India, surnames were often derived from various sources, including occupations, personal traits, or religious affiliations. The name Ramachandran was likely given to individuals or families who were devotees of Lord Rama or had a special connection to the lunar deity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ramachandran can be found in the inscriptions of the Chola Dynasty, which ruled over parts of southern India between the 9th and 13th centuries CE. These inscriptions mention individuals with the name Ramachandran serving as officials and administrators in the Chola court.
Over the centuries, the name Ramachandran has been associated with several notable figures. One of the most renowned was Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, an Indian physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for his groundbreaking work on the scattering of light. He was born in 1888 in Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirappalli), Tamil Nadu, and passed away in 1970.
Another prominent individual with the surname Ramachandran was C. V. Raman Pillai, an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the President of the Indian National Congress in 1936. He was born in 1878 in Thrissur, Kerala, and died in 1958.
In the field of mathematics, Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar, known as Srinivasa Ramanujan, was a self-taught genius who made significant contributions to the theory of numbers. He was born in 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu, and passed away in 1920 at a young age.
The name Ramachandran has also been associated with the arts and literature. One notable figure is the renowned Indian novelist and playwright R. Ramachandran, who was born in 1922 in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, and is known for his works exploring social and political themes.
In the field of science, the name Ramachandran is closely associated with the Indian-American structural biologist G. N. Ramachandran, who made pioneering contributions to the study of protein structure. He was born in 1922 in Ernakulam, Kerala, and passed away in 2001.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ramachandran
Among Census respondents with the surname Ramachandran, the largest self-reported group is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.3%. The next largest groups are White (2.3%) and Two or More Races (2.0%).
The bar chart below shows how Ramachandran bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Ramachandran surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander94.3% · 2,749
- White2.3% · 68
- Two or more races2.0% · 59
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 26
- Black or African American0.3% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Timeline
Historical Census data for Ramachandran
Ramachandran appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#14,409
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,074
+976 bearers (+88.9%)
Per 100,000 0.70
Rank movement Up 7,602 places
2020
#10,501
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,915
+841 bearers (+40.5%)
Per 100,000 0.98
Rank movement Up 3,908 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #22,011 | 1,098 | 0.41 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #14,409 | 2,074 | 0.70 | +976 bearers (+88.9%) | Up 7,602 places |
| 2020 | #10,501 | 2,915 | 0.98 | +841 bearers (+40.5%) | Up 3,908 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Ramachandran surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #14,409 | #10,501 | 27.1% |
| Count | 2,074 | 2,915 | 40.5% |
| Per 100K | 0.70 | 0.98 | 39.3% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Ramachandran bearers went from 2,074 to 2,915 (+40.5% change). The surname moved up 3,908 positions in the national ranking, going from #14,409 to #10,501.
FAQ
Ramachandran surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Ramachandran?
Name Census estimates that about 3,343 living Americans carry the surname Ramachandran. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 102,529 residents.
How common is Ramachandran?
Ramachandran ranks #10,501 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.98 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,915 people with the surname Ramachandran. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (3,343), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.98 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.98 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Ramachandran.
Has Ramachandran become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Ramachandran went from 2,074 recorded bearers to 2,915. That is an increase of 841 (+40.5%). In the national ranking it rose from #14,409 to #10,501.
What does the Census say about the background of Ramachandran?
Among Census respondents with the surname Ramachandran, the largest self-reported group is Asian/Pacific Islander at 94.3%. The next largest groups are White (2.3%) and Two or More Races (2.0%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest self-reported group for the surname Ramachandran in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.3% (2,749 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Ramachandran appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are Asian/Pacific Islander (94.3%), White (2.3%), Two or More Races (2.0%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Ramachandran (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Ramachandran mean?
A surname of Tamil origin referring to a devotee of the Hindu deity Rama, an avatar of Vishnu. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Ramachandran (0.98 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Ramachandran?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.