Rami
Of Arabic origin meaning "lofty" or "elevated".
Name Census estimates that about 3,845 living Americans carry the first name Rami. It is a predominantly male name (94.0% of registrations). The average person named Rami today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rami births was 2022 (170 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rami. 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 Rami with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.8K
~ 1 in 89,143 Americans
Peak year
2022
170 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,211
Tracked since 1963
Census
Rami in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,678 people with the first name Rami, which placed it at #3,605 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
#3,605
National first-name rank
People counted
5.7K
5,678 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rami
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rami is White at 84.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Black (4.3%). 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 Rami 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 Rami at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.2% · 4,781
- Two or more races4.6% · 264
- Black or African American4.3% · 242
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 203
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 181
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Rami
Rami leans heavily male at 94.0% of total registrations, but 236 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rami as a male name
- Ranked #1,211 in 2024
- 167 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (167 births)
Rami as a female name
- Ranked #17,210 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1979 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rami leans strongly male. 5,350 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 340 female bearers (6.0%).
Popularity
Rami: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rami from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 871 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rami 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 Rami during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ramis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Rami, while Wisconsin, Minnesota, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 112 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rami
The name Rami has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "rami," which means "throwing" or "shooting." The name gained popularity in the Middle East and North Africa regions, where Arabic is widely spoken.
In Islamic tradition, the name Rami is associated with the ritual of stoning the pillars during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. This ritual is known as the "Ramy al-Jamarat," which involves throwing pebbles at three pillars symbolizing the rejection of temptations and evil. As a result, the name Rami carries connotations of strength, resilience, and overcoming adversity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rami can be found in the ancient Arabic poetry of the pre-Islamic era. The renowned poet Imru' al-Qais, who lived around the 6th century CE, mentioned a character named Rami in one of his poems, indicating the name's usage during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Rami. One of the most famous was Rami al-Nahhammari, a 10th-century Arab mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad. He made significant contributions to the development of trigonometry and is credited with introducing the concept of the sine function.
Another prominent figure was Rami ibn Ahmad, a 12th-century Arab physician and philosopher from Andalusia (modern-day Spain). He wrote extensively on medical topics and was influential in the dissemination of Arabic scientific knowledge in Europe during the Middle Ages.
In the realm of literature, Rami al-Samawi was a 13th-century Arab poet and writer from Yemen. He is known for his collection of poems, "Diwan Rami al-Samawi," which explored themes of love, nature, and spiritual enlightenment.
Moving forward in time, Rami Khouri (born 1948) is a renowned Palestinian-Jordanian journalist and writer. He has been a prominent voice on Middle Eastern affairs and has worked as a columnist for various international publications, including the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper.
Lastly, Rami Malek (born 1981) is an Egyptian-American actor who gained global recognition for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in the 2018 biographical film "Bohemian Rhapsody." His performance earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor, solidifying his place as a talented and acclaimed actor in contemporary times.
People
Rami + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rami 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
Rami: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rami?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,845 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rami 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 89,143 US residents.
Is Rami a common name?
We classify Rami as "Rare". It ranks above 95.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,926 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rami most popular?
The single biggest year for Rami was 2022, when 170 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rami is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rami in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,678 people with the name Rami, or 1.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,605 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 Rami 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 Rami?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rami leans strongly male. 5,350 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 340 female bearers (6.0%). 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 Rami?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rami is White at 84.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Black (4.3%). 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 Rami most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rami in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.2% (4,781 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 Rami in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rami a male name?
Yes, 94.0% of people registered as Rami 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 Rami still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rami 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 Rami 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 called Rami?
You can see how many people share the name Rami on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.