Radha
A feminine given name of Sanskrit origin meaning "prosperity" or "success".
Name Census estimates that about 901 living Americans carry the first name Radha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Radha today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Radha births was 2024 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Radha. 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 Radha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
901
~ 1 in 380,415 Americans
Peak year
2024
42 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,676
Tracked since 1971
Census
Radha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,026 people with the first name Radha, which placed it at #5,601 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
#5,601
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
3,026 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
86.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Radha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Radha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.4%. The next largest groups are White (4.7%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Radha 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 Radha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander86.4% · 2,613
- White4.7% · 143
- Black or African American3.3% · 101
- Two or more races2.7% · 83
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 63
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 23
Popularity
Radha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Radha from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 249 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Radha remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Radha 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 Radha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Radhas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Radha, while Pennsylvania, Texas, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Radha
The name Radha has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language from the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the word 'radh', which means to worship, succeed, or accomplish. The name has been in use since ancient times and is associated with Hindu mythology.
Radha is best known as the name of the chief devotee and consort of Lord Krishna, who is revered as an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. The love between Radha and Krishna is celebrated in many religious texts, including the Bhagavata Purana, Gita Govinda, and various folk songs and poetry. Their relationship is often interpreted as a metaphor for the soul's longing for divine union.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Radha can be found in the Harivamsa, an ancient Sanskrit text that is an appendix to the Mahabharata epic. The Radha-Krishna love story is also central to the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism, particularly in the Gaudiya Vaishnavism sect founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the 16th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Radha. One of the earliest was Radha Mohan Thakur (1669-1711), a Bengali Vaishnava saint and philosopher who wrote extensively on the philosophy of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism sect. Another prominent figure was Radha Charan Das (1718-1811), a Vaishnava saint and poet who composed numerous devotional songs and poems.
In more recent times, Radha Gobinda Kar (1887-1976) was a renowned Indian historian and archaeologist who made significant contributions to the study of ancient Indian history and culture. Radha Binod Pal (1886-1967) was a prominent Indian lawyer and jurist who served as a judge at the International Court of Justice.
Radha Kumud Mookerji (1884-1964) was an Indian writer and historian who authored several books on Indian history and culture, including the classic work 'Hindu Civilization'. Radha Reddy (1937-1994) was an Indian social activist and politician who fought for the rights of marginalized communities.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Radha, a name that holds deep cultural and religious significance in various regions of the Indian subcontinent.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Radha
People
Radha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Radha 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
Radha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Radha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 901 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Radha 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 380,415 US residents.
Is Radha a common name?
We classify Radha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 924 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Radha most popular?
The single biggest year for Radha was 2024, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Radha is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Radha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,026 people with the name Radha, or 1.00 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,601 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 Radha 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 Radha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Radha leans strongly female. 2,806 people counted with this name were female (92.6%), compared with 223 male bearers (7.4%). 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 Radha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Radha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.4%. The next largest groups are White (4.7%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Radha most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Radha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.4% (2,613 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 Radha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Radha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Radha 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 Radha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Radha 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 Radha 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 are named Radha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.