Racheal
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "ewe", or female lamb.
Name Census estimates that about 9,416 living Americans carry the first name Racheal. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Racheal today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Racheal births was 1985 (388 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Racheal. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Racheal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
9.4K
~ 1 in 36,401 Americans
Peak year
1985
388 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,747
Tracked since 1910
Census
Racheal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,376 people with the first name Racheal, which placed it at #2,568 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,568
National first-name rank
People counted
9.4K
9,376 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Racheal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Racheal is White at 65.8%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Hispanic (10.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Racheal 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 name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Racheal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.8% · 6,170
- Black or African American15.8% · 1,477
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 957
- Two or more races4.5% · 422
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 177
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 173
Popularity
Racheal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Racheal from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 3,374 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Racheal by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Racheal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Racheals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Racheal, while Nevada, Nebraska, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 192 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Racheal
The name Racheal is a variant spelling of the Hebrew name Rachel, which means "ewe" or "female sheep" in Hebrew. The name has its origins in ancient Semitic languages and cultures of the Middle East, dating back several millennia.
The name Rachel appears in the Old Testament of the Bible as the wife of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. In the Book of Genesis, Rachel is described as being beautiful and the favored wife of Jacob, though she initially struggles with infertility before giving birth to Joseph.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Racheal can be found in ancient Hebrew inscriptions and texts from around the 6th century BC. The name was commonly used among Jewish communities in the ancient world and continued to be popular throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era.
Notable historical figures with the name Racheal or its variant spellings include Rachael Revah, a 16th century Portuguese-Jewish poet and scholar, and Rachel de Senepart, a 17th century French aristocrat and mistress of Louis XIV. In more recent times, famous individuals with this name include Rachel Carson (1907-1964), the American marine biologist and author of the influential book "Silent Spring," and Rachel Weisz (born 1970), the British actress known for her roles in films such as "The Constant Gardener" and "The Mummy" series.
Other notable individuals with the name Racheal or its variants include Rachael Ray (born 1968), the American celebrity chef and television personality, and Rachel Maddow (born 1973), the American political commentator and television host. Additionally, the name has been used by various fictional characters in literature and popular culture, such as Rachel Green from the sitcom "Friends" and Rachel Zane from the legal drama "Suits."
People
Racheal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Racheal as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Racheal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Racheal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,416 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Racheal going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 36,401 US residents.
Is Racheal a common name?
We classify Racheal as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,514 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Racheal most popular?
The single biggest year for Racheal was 1985, when 388 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Racheal is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Racheal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,376 people with the name Racheal, or 3.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,568 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Racheal in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Racheal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Racheal appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,384 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Racheal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Racheal is White at 65.8%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Hispanic (10.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Racheal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Racheal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.8% (6,170 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Racheal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Racheal a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Racheal in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Racheal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Racheal in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Racheal can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Racheal as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.