Find out how popular the last name Rayna is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Rayna.

Rayna, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Rayna surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rayna in America

Rayna is the 112568th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rayna surname appeared 156 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Rayna.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rayna to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Rayna

The surname Rayna originated in the region of modern-day Slovakia and the Czech Republic in Central Europe during the early Middle Ages. It is believed to have derived from the Slavic word "raina," which means "dawn" or "daybreak." This suggests that the name may have been initially associated with someone born at dawn or someone who worked at that time of day.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Rayna can be found in a 13th-century manuscript from the town of Trenčín, which was then part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The document mentions a landowner named Radoslav Rayna, who owned a parcel of land in the region.

In the late 14th century, a knight named Ján Rayna is mentioned in the records of King Sigismund of Hungary. He is believed to have fought in the Battle of Nicopolis against the Ottoman Empire in 1396.

During the 16th century, the name Rayna appeared in several villages in the region of Moravia, which was then part of the Holy Roman Empire. One notable bearer of the name was Matúš Rayna, a farmer and landowner who lived in the village of Bučovice between 1532 and 1598.

In the 17th century, a notable figure with the surname Rayna was Katarína Rayna, a noblewoman from the town of Banská Bystrica in what is now central Slovakia. She was known for her involvement in local politics and her patronage of the arts.

Another prominent bearer of the surname was Ľudovít Rayna, a Slovak writer and poet who lived from 1790 to 1849. He is considered one of the pioneers of modern Slovak literature and played a significant role in the Slovak national revival movement.

Over the centuries, the surname Rayna has been subject to various spellings and variations, such as Raina, Raine, and Reine, reflecting the linguistic and cultural diversity of the regions where it has been found.

It is worth noting that while the surname Rayna has its roots in Central Europe, it has since spread to other parts of the world through migration and cultural exchange. However, its historical origins can be traced back to the Slavic regions of present-day Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rayna

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Rayna.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Rayna was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Rayna has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Rayna was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Rayna, please contact us.

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