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Raj

#4,670 in 2025Boys' name

Reign, rule; empire, kingdom; country, state; royalty

Raj has been given to 2,176 babies in the U.S. since 1950. In 2025 it ranked #4,670 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2003, with 88 recorded.

Babies named Raj, 2025

1 in 151,000

Raj over time, 1880–2025

Boys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Raj: meaning, origin, and history

Reign, rule; empire, kingdom; country, state; royalty

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Raj means

Raj means “reign, rule; empire, kingdom; country, state; royalty”, associated with rāj.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Proprialisation of raj (“(India) reign, rule”, noun), borrowed from Hindustani राज / راج (rāj, “reign, rule; empire, kingdom; country, state; royalty”), from Sanskrit राज्य (rājyá, “empire, kingdom, realm; kingship, royalty, sovereignty; country”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to right or straighten oneself; to govern, rule; just; right”). Doublet of Reich.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Raj (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Raj is used in English.

Raj comes through Sanskrit राज्य and Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Rajiv.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Raj is pronounced /ɹɑd͡ʒ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,176 boys were recorded with the name Raj between 1950 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 88 in 2003; its best national rank was #1,486 in 2003.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,384 in 2020 to #4,670 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #3,011 in 2015 to #4,670 in 2025.

How common is Raj?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 151,000
22 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 77,600
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,670
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
104,451 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Raj 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 104,451 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Raj. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rajs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Raj was born before 2000 — so the typical Raj is around 25 today.

Median birth year
2000
About 25 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
27.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
47.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,176
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 27.0% of all recorded uses (587).

Is Raj 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
+339
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−286
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,659
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.56×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
25.0%
Peak was 2003 (88)
Years since peak
22
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,486
2003

Where Raj is used

Across 1910–2025, Raj was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in 25,000 boys, against 1 in 114,451 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

04 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Jersey1 in 25,000
  2. 2California1 in 100,000
  3. 3Georgia1 in 100,000
  4. 4Illinois1 in 100,000
  5. 5New York1 in 100,000
  6. 6Texas1 in 100,000
  7. 7Florida1 in —
  8. 8Massachusetts1 in —

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. Raj has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Raj around the world

Where Raj 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
    1996–2020
    #4,608
    in 2020
  • France
    1977–2014
    #5,343
    in 2014
  • Canada
    1994–2013
    #2,635
    in 2013
  • South Australia
    1999–2004
    #404
    in 2004

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

Notable people named Raj

People whose public names include Raj, 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.

Raj in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Raj. Linked forms have their own page here.

Rajeeb

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Raj by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,670
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 286
Best rank ever
#1,486
2003
Peak year
2003
88 that year
First recorded
1950
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,176
Count in 2025
22

Names similar to Raj

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

RajaRajanRajonVirajRajahSurajVrajRajivSirajYuvrajRajveerRajeshRajiRajeevManrajAvirajMirajRajatNirajJasrajRajvirNavrajAvrajDilraj

Names with a curve like Raj

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

MathieuArikNeftaliRayvonLeobardoTyranDomonicTaronNicklasKamalTarekJihad

Sibling names for Raj

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 Raj

Top names of 2003, Raj's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2003Boys' names starting with R