Rader
A Dutch given name meaning "counselor" or "advisor".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Rader. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rader today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rader births was 1921 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rader. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Rader. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
1921
6 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,610
Tracked since 1920
Census
Rader in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 126 people with the first name Rader, which placed it at #49,344 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
#49,344
National first-name rank
People counted
126
126 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rader
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rader is White at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.5%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Rader 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 Rader at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.4% · 100
- Hispanic or Latino9.5% · 12
- Black or African American7.9% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 2
- Two or more races1.6% · 2
Popularity
Rader: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rader from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 21 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rader 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 Rader during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rader
The name Rader is a Germanic name that can be traced back to the Old High German language. It is derived from the word "rad," which means "advice" or "counsel." The name likely originated in the 8th or 9th century in regions of present-day Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Rader can be found in the Codex Traditionum Corbeiensium, a medieval manuscript from the 9th century. This document mentions a person named Rader who was a landowner in the region of Westphalia, Germany.
In the 12th century, a monk named Rader of Liège is mentioned in historical records. He was known for his contributions to religious writings and his work as a scribe in the monastery of St. Laurent in Liège, Belgium.
During the Renaissance period, a German artist named Rader von Tann (c. 1480-1545) gained recognition for his woodcut illustrations and engravings. His works were often inspired by religious themes and depicted scenes from the Bible.
In the 17th century, a German philosopher and mathematician named Rader von Bamberg (1595-1668) made significant contributions to the field of mathematics. He is known for his work on logarithms and his collaboration with Johannes Kepler.
Another notable figure with the name Rader is the Austrian composer and organist Rader von Dittrichstein (1719-1786). He is remembered for his compositions for the organ and his contributions to the development of church music in the Baroque era.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Rader. While the name has its roots in the Germanic languages, it has been used across various regions and cultures over the centuries, reflecting its enduring presence and significance.
People
Rader + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rader 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
Rader: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rader?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rader 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Rader a common name?
We classify Rader as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 37 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rader most popular?
The single biggest year for Rader was 1921, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rader is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rader in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 126 people with the name Rader, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,344 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 Rader 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 Rader?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rader leans strongly male. 111 people counted with this name were male (86.7%), compared with 17 female bearers (13.3%). 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 Rader?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rader is White at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.5%) and Black (7.9%). 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 Rader most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rader in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.4% (100 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 Rader in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rader a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rader in the SSA data are male. 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 Rader still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rader 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 Rader 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 common is the name Rader?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.