Rawlins
From the Germanic name Radulphus, meaning "counsel" and "wolf".
Name Census estimates that about 169 living Americans carry the first name Rawlins. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Rawlins today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rawlins births was 2023 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rawlins. 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.
People living today
169
~ 1 in 2,028,132 Americans
Peak year
2023
25 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,380
Tracked since 2011
Census
Rawlins in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 164 people with the first name Rawlins, which placed it at #43,191 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
#43,191
National first-name rank
People counted
164
164 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rawlins
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rawlins is White at 64.0%. The next largest groups are Black (15.9%) and Hispanic (9.1%). 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 Rawlins 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 Rawlins at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.0% · 105
- Black or African American15.9% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 15
- Two or more races6.7% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Rawlins
Rawlins leans heavily male at 81.8% of total registrations, but 31 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rawlins as a male name
- Ranked #6,380 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (16 births)
Rawlins as a female name
- Ranked #10,970 in 2023
- 9 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rawlins leans strongly male. 154 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 15 female bearers (8.9%).
Popularity
Rawlins: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rawlins from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 99 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
Rawlins 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 Rawlins during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rawlins
The name Rawlins has its origins in England and dates back to the medieval period. It is believed to have derived from the Old English personal name Raulf or Rauf, which was a variant of the Germanic name Ralph or Radulf. The name Ralph itself is composed of the elements "rad" meaning counsel, and "wulf" meaning wolf.
Rawlins was initially used as a surname, with one of the earliest recorded instances being Rawlin de Nevill in the 13th century. Over time, it evolved into a given name, especially in regions like Lancashire and Yorkshire where it was more prevalent.
In the 14th century, a Rawlins Lughteburgh was mentioned in historical records from Norfolk, England. Another notable individual was Sir Rawlins Raggshawe, a 15th-century knight from Lancashire, who fought in the Wars of the Roses.
During the Renaissance period, the name Rawlins was associated with some notable figures. Rawlins White, an English writer and dramatist, was born in 1585 and is known for his contributions to the Jacobean era of English literature.
In the 17th century, Rawlins Cross was a Puritan minister who served as the chaplain to Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army during the English Civil War. He was known for his fiery sermons and unwavering religious convictions.
Moving into the 18th century, Rawlins Lowndes was a prominent British politician and Member of Parliament who served under Prime Minister Robert Walpole. He was born in 1720 and played a significant role in shaping the political landscape of his time.
While the name Rawlins may have faded in popularity in more recent times, its historical significance and connections to influential figures from various eras cannot be overlooked. It remains a unique and distinctive name with a rich heritage rooted in the medieval and early modern periods of English history.
People
Rawlins + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rawlins 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
Rawlins: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rawlins?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 169 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rawlins 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 2,028,132 US residents.
Is Rawlins a common name?
We classify Rawlins as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 170 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rawlins most popular?
The single biggest year for Rawlins was 2023, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rawlins is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rawlins in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 164 people with the name Rawlins, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,191 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 Rawlins 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 Rawlins?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rawlins leans strongly male. 154 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 15 female bearers (8.9%). 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 Rawlins?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rawlins is White at 64.0%. The next largest groups are Black (15.9%) and Hispanic (9.1%). 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 Rawlins most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rawlins in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.0% (105 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 Rawlins in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rawlins a male name?
Yes, 81.8% of people registered as Rawlins 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 Rawlins still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rawlins 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 Rawlins 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 have the name Rawlins?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.