Raeleigh
A feminine given name derived from the English place name Raleigh.
Name Census estimates that about 2,274 living Americans carry the first name Raeleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Raeleigh today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raeleigh births was 2017 (138 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raeleigh. 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 Raeleigh with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Raeleigh is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 150,728 Americans
Peak year
2017
138 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,290
Tracked since 1994
Census
Raeleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,473 people with the first name Raeleigh, which placed it at #9,421 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
#9,421
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,473 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raeleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raeleigh is White at 79.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.0%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Raeleigh 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 Raeleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.2% · 1,166
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 103
- Two or more races6.5% · 96
- Black or African American5.2% · 76
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 7
Popularity
Raeleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raeleigh from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,185 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Raeleigh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Raeleigh 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 Raeleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Raeleighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Raeleigh, while West Virginia, Virginia, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Raeleigh
The name Raeleigh is derived from the Old English word "ræ" meaning "roe deer" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "clearing". It is believed to have originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD. This name was likely used to describe a place where roe deer could be found grazing in a meadow or clearing.
The earliest recorded use of the name Raeleigh dates back to the 11th century, when it appeared in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landowners and their holdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this text, the name was spelled as "Ravenlea" or "Radleye", referring to various locations across England.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Raeleigh was Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1554-1618), an English writer, poet, soldier, courtier, and explorer. He is best known for his involvement in the English colonization of North America, where he sponsored expeditions to establish the Roanoke Colony in present-day North Carolina.
Another prominent individual with this name was John Raleigh (c. 1648-1679), an English philosopher and scientist who made significant contributions to the development of calculus. He is remembered for his work on differential equations and his collaboration with Isaac Newton.
In the realm of literature, the name Raeleigh appears in the novel "Ivanhoe" by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). In this work, one of the characters is named Raleigh, who serves as a squire to the main protagonist, Ivanhoe.
Moving forward in time, Raleigh Trevelyan (1923-1988) was a British artist and sculptor known for his abstract works and his involvement in the Geometric Abstract Art movement in the 20th century.
Another notable figure was Raleigh Radford (1920-2009), an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Radford University in Virginia and served as its first rector.
While the name Raeleigh has its roots in Old English and has been used throughout history, it is important to note that the most accurate and up-to-date information on its usage and popularity would come from current census data and records, which were not included in this report due to the focus on historical context.
People
Raeleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raeleigh 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
Raeleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raeleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,274 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raeleigh 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 150,728 US residents.
Is Raeleigh a common name?
We classify Raeleigh as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,295 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raeleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Raeleigh was 2017, when 138 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raeleigh is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Raeleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,473 people with the name Raeleigh, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,421 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 Raeleigh 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 Raeleigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raeleigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,480 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Raeleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raeleigh is White at 79.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.0%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Raeleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Raeleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.2% (1,166 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 Raeleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Raeleigh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Raeleigh 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 Raeleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Raeleigh 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 Raeleigh 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 Raeleigh?
Find out how many people share the name Raeleigh on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.