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Rahul

#9,494 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Rahula

Rahul has been given to 3,332 babies in the U.S. since 1966. In 2025 it ranked #9,494 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2000, with 196 recorded.

Babies named Rahul, 2025

1 in 414,000

Rahul over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rahul: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Rahula

Sanskrit

What Rahul means

Rahul is a form of Rahula.

Origin, language, and formation

Rahul is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

Rahul comes through Sanskrit राहुल.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Rahula and र.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,332 boys were recorded with the name Rahul between 1966 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 196 in 2000; its best national rank was #816 in 2000.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #10,340 in 2020 to #9,494 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #6,231 in 2015 to #9,494 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Rahul?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 213,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,494
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Rahul sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rahul. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rahuls were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rahul was born before 1999 — so the typical Rahul is around 26 today.

Median birth year
1999
About 26 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
40.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
44.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
3,332
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 40.7% of all recorded uses (1,355).

Is Rahul rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+2,518
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+846
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−3,263
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.57×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
4.1%
Peak was 2000 (196)
Years since peak
25
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#816
2000

Spellings of Rahul

Rahul is not the most common spelling — Paul is, with 90.2% against Rahul's 0.21%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Rahul is used

Across 1910–2025, Rahul was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in 14,286 boys, against 1 in 58,770 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

07 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Jersey1 in 14,286
  2. 2California1 in 33,333
  3. 3Illinois1 in 50,000
  4. 4Maryland1 in 50,000
  5. 5New York1 in 50,000
  6. 6Connecticut1 in 100,000
  7. 7Georgia1 in 100,000
  8. 8Massachusetts1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Rahul has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Rahul around the world

Where Rahul ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #4,275
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2000–2001
    #423
    in 2001
  • Ireland
    2009–2009
    #701
    in 2009
  • France
    2000–2013
    #5,718
    in 2013
  • Canada
    1991–2014
    #1,791
    in 2014
  • South Australia
    1983–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Rahul

People whose public names include Rahul, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Rahul by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,494
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 846
Best rank ever
#816
2000
Peak year
2000
196 that year
First recorded
1966
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,332
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Rahul

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

RahimRaheemRahmanRahilRaheimRahmirRahmelRahsaanRahiemRahmRahziRaheenAnshulRahnRaheelRahiMehulRahkeemRahmiRahatRahkimRahemRahylRahmon

Names with a curve like Rahul

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Rahul, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

OsbaldoNicklasJustynJajuanJarenBradonDajuanDallinIainChristainDarrionJavan

Sibling names for Rahul

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Rahul

Top names of 2000, Rahul's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2000Boys' names starting with RIndian Boy NamesIndian NamesSanskrit Boy NamesSanskrit Names