Name Awesome

Raye

#6,768 in 2025UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Raye has been given to 2,603 babies in the U.S. since 1889. In 2025 it ranked #6,768 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1956, with 67 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 88% girls, 12% boys all-time.

Babies named Raye, 2025

1 in 195,000

Raye over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Raye over time

In 2025, Raye went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

18892025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Raye: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Raye means

Raye is a given name.

The naming story behind Raye

Wikidata records Raye as a given name. The entity identifier is Q57724834, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,297 girls were recorded with the name Raye between 1889 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 67 in 1956; its best national rank was #1,171 in 1912.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,273 in 2020 to #6,768 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #10,704 in 2015 to #6,768 in 2025.

In the United States, 306 boys were recorded with the name Raye between 1914 and 1982. Its highest annual count was 15 in 1948; its best national rank was #2,006 in 1948.

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.

How common is Raye?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 195,000
17 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 94,500
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#6,768
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
135,172 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Raye sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 135,172 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Raye. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rayes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Raye was born before 1954 — so the typical Raye is around 71 today.

Median birth year
1954
About 71 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
19.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
9.5%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,323
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 19.9% of all recorded uses (456).

Is Raye 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
+1,106
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−495
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+3,936
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.70×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
25.4%
Peak was 1956 (67)
Years since peak
69
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
33.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,171
1912

Spellings of Raye

Raye is not the most common spelling — Grace is, with 19.9% against Raye's 0.09%.

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 Raye is used

Across 1910–2025, Raye was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 377,317 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 100,000
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3Illinois1 in —
  4. 4Kansas1 in —
  5. 5Louisiana1 in —
  6. 6Michigan1 in —
  7. 7New York1 in —
  8. 8Ohio1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Raye has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Raye around the world

Where Raye 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
    2016–2025
    #922
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2024–2025
    #632
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2019–2023
    #3,197
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1951–1951
    #423
    in 1951

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Raye

People whose public names include Raye, 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.

Raye by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#6,768
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 495
Best rank ever
#1,171
1912
Peak year
1956
67 that year
First recorded
1889
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,297
Count in 2025
17

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,006
1948
Peak year
1948
15 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
1982
All-time count
306
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Raye

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

RaylaRayahRaynRayaJayeMayeRayanRayRayvenRayannRayneRaylinShayeRayanaRaylynRayannaRayleeRayganRaynaRaylenRaylynnRaymaRayleneRayanne

Names with a curve like Raye

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

MerrillFrediaArnettaVernettaHerlindaKathaleenLorrettaThomasineLaureneDrusillaTheressaEvon

Sibling names for Raye

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 Raye

Top names of 1956, Raye's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1912Girls' names starting with R