Rashaun
A male name of African American origin meaning "prosperous journey".
Name Census estimates that about 3,214 living Americans carry the first name Rashaun. It is a predominantly male name (94.5% of registrations). The average person named Rashaun today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rashaun births was 1998 (117 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rashaun. 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 Rashaun with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 106,644 Americans
Peak year
1998
117 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,993
Tracked since 1969
Census
Rashaun in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,313 people with the first name Rashaun, which placed it at #6,813 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
#6,813
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,313 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rashaun
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashaun is Black at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.5%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Rashaun 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 Rashaun at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.0% · 1,943
- Two or more races8.5% · 197
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 85
- White2.1% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Rashaun
Rashaun leans heavily male at 94.5% of total registrations, but 182 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rashaun as a male name
- Ranked #4,993 in 2024
- 20 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (117 births)
Rashaun as a female name
- Ranked #9,362 in 1995
- 9 female births in 1995
- Peak: 1979 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rashaun leans strongly male. 2,125 people counted with this name were male (91.8%), compared with 190 female bearers (8.2%).
Popularity
Rashaun: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rashaun from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 952 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rashaun 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 Rashaun during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rashauns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. New York, Illinois, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Rashaun, while Connecticut, Alabama, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 81 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rashaun
The name Rashaun originated in the late 20th century as a variant spelling of the Arabic name Rashad. It is a combination of the Arabic root word "rashada," meaning "righteous guidance," and the suffix "-un," which is a common ending for Arabic male names.
While the name Rashaun is not found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its root word "rashada" is derived from the Arabic term "rushd," which is mentioned in the Quran and Islamic teachings as a concept related to righteousness, wisdom, and being rightly guided.
The earliest recorded use of the name Rashaun dates back to the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, particularly among African American communities. It gained popularity as a unique variation of the traditional Arabic name Rashad, reflecting the cultural influence and creative naming practices within these communities.
One of the earliest notable individuals named Rashaun was Rashaun Woods, an American football player who played for the San Francisco 49ers in the early 2000s. Another well-known bearer of the name is Rashaun Rucker, an American visual artist and photographer known for his works exploring issues of identity and race.
Rashaun Simonise, born in 1986, is a former Canadian football player who played for several teams in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Rashaun Allen, born in 1989, is an American professional basketball player who has played in various leagues around the world, including the NBA G League.
Rashaun Broadnax, born in 1985, is an American football coach currently serving as the defensive coordinator for the University of Miami. He has had a successful coaching career at various college programs, including the University of Tennessee and the University of Georgia.
People
Rashaun + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rashaun 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
Rashaun: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rashaun?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,214 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rashaun 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 106,644 US residents.
Is Rashaun a common name?
We classify Rashaun as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,305 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rashaun most popular?
The single biggest year for Rashaun was 1998, when 117 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rashaun is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rashaun in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,313 people with the name Rashaun, or 0.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,813 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 Rashaun 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 Rashaun?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rashaun leans strongly male. 2,125 people counted with this name were male (91.8%), compared with 190 female bearers (8.2%). 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 Rashaun?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rashaun is Black at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.5%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Rashaun most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rashaun in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.0% (1,943 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 Rashaun in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rashaun a male name?
Yes, 94.5% of people registered as Rashaun 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 Rashaun still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rashaun 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 Rashaun 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 Rashaun?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.