Raeanna
A feminine name derived from Irish origin meaning "little lamb".
Name Census estimates that about 1,656 living Americans carry the first name Raeanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Raeanna today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raeanna births was 1999 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raeanna. 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 Raeanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 206,977 Americans
Peak year
1999
74 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,388
Tracked since 1941
Census
Raeanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,445 people with the first name Raeanna, which placed it at #9,564 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
#9,564
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,445 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raeanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raeanna is White at 63.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.5%) and Two or More Races (8.2%). 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 Raeanna 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 Raeanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.5% · 918
- Hispanic or Latino15.5% · 224
- Two or more races8.2% · 119
- Black or African American7.5% · 108
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.3% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 28
Popularity
Raeanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raeanna from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 579 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Raeanna 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 Raeanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Raeannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Texas, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Raeanna, while Oklahoma, Indiana, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Raeanna
The name Raeanna is a relatively modern English name that likely originated in the 20th century. It is a feminine variant of the name Rhiannon, which has its roots in Welsh mythology and literature.
Rhiannon is a character from the Mabinogion, a collection of medieval Welsh tales. She is depicted as a beautiful and powerful figure, often associated with horses and birds. The name Rhiannon is believed to derive from the Welsh words "rhien," meaning a great or divine person, and "rhiain," meaning a maiden or princess.
While the name Rhiannon has been used for centuries, the variant spelling Raeanna is a more recent invention. It first gained popularity in the United States in the late 20th century, likely influenced by the growing interest in Welsh and Celtic culture, as well as the desire for unique and distinctive names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Raeanna can be found in the 1967 novel "The Owl Service" by Alan Garner, where it is used as a character's name. However, it is unclear if this was the first use of the name or if it had already been in circulation before then.
Throughout history, there have been a few notable individuals with the name Raeanna, although it is not as common as its parent name, Rhiannon. One such individual is Raeanna Jaye Lemay (born 1984), a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. Another is Raeanna Rutledge (born 1982), an American model and actress.
In literature, Raeanna is the name of a character in the fantasy novel "The Dreamstone" by C.J. Cherryh, published in 1983. In music, Raeanna is also the name of a song by the American rock band Stryper, released in 1986 on their album "To Hell with the Devil."
Despite its relatively modern origins, the name Raeanna has gained a foothold in various cultures and communities around the world, thanks in part to its unique sound and connection to Welsh mythology and literature.
People
Raeanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raeanna 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
Raeanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raeanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,656 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raeanna 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 206,977 US residents.
Is Raeanna a common name?
We classify Raeanna as "Rare". It ranks above 92.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,710 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raeanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Raeanna was 1999, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raeanna is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Raeanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,445 people with the name Raeanna, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,564 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 Raeanna 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 Raeanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raeanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,445 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Raeanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raeanna is White at 63.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.5%) and Two or More Races (8.2%). 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 Raeanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Raeanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.5% (918 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 Raeanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Raeanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Raeanna 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 Raeanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Raeanna 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 Raeanna 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 Americans are named Raeanna?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.