Raychelle
Feminine diminutive form of the French name 'Rachel', meaning "little ewe".
Name Census estimates that about 568 living Americans carry the first name Raychelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Raychelle today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raychelle births was 1994 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raychelle. 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 Raychelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
568
~ 1 in 603,441 Americans
Peak year
1994
30 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2010 SSA rank
#16,509
Tracked since 1962
Census
Raychelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 559 people with the first name Raychelle, which placed it at #19,094 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
#19,094
National first-name rank
People counted
559
559 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raychelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raychelle is Black at 50.8%. The next largest groups are White (26.3%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Raychelle 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 Raychelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.8% · 284
- White26.3% · 147
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 47
- Two or more races6.3% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 15
Popularity
Raychelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raychelle from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 177 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
Raychelle 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 Raychelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Raychelles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Raychelle
The name Raychelle is a variant spelling of the English name Rachel, which has its origins in the Hebrew name רָחֵל (Rāḥēl). The name Rachel can be traced back to the biblical matriarch Rachel, who was the beloved wife of Jacob in the Old Testament and a central figure in the book of Genesis.
The Hebrew name רָחֵל is derived from the root word רָחָה (rāḥāh), which means "ewe" or "female sheep." It's believed that the name Rachel was originally a reference to the beauty, gentleness, and fertility associated with ewes. The name Rachel has been in use for thousands of years and has been popular among Jewish and Christian communities throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rachel comes from the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, which dates back to around the 6th century BCE. In the biblical narrative, Rachel was the younger daughter of Laban and the favored wife of Jacob, with whom she had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin.
The name Rachel has been borne by several notable figures throughout history. One of the most famous was Rachel de Varnhagen (1771-1833), a influential German-Jewish salonnière and author who hosted influential literary and intellectual gatherings in her Berlin salon.
Another notable Rachel was Rachel Bluwstein Sela (1890-1931), a Russian-born Hebrew poet and author who is considered one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poetry. Her works, published under the pen name Rachel, played a significant role in reviving the Hebrew language and culture during the early 20th century.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was an American marine biologist, author, and conservationist whose book "Silent Spring" is credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Her influential work exposed the harmful effects of pesticides and sparked widespread public concern about the environment.
In the entertainment industry, Rachel Weisz (born 1970) is a renowned British-American actress who has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA, for her performances in films such as "The Constant Gardener" and "The Favourite."
Raychelle, as a variant spelling of Rachel, likely emerged in the English-speaking world as a way to create a unique or more feminine version of the traditional name. While it shares the same etymology and historical roots as Rachel, Raychelle is a relatively modern spelling variation that has gained some popularity in recent decades.
People
Raychelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raychelle 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
Raychelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raychelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 568 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raychelle 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 603,441 US residents.
Is Raychelle a common name?
We classify Raychelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 603 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raychelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Raychelle was 1994, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raychelle is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Raychelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 559 people with the name Raychelle, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,094 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 Raychelle 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 Raychelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raychelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 557 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Raychelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raychelle is Black at 50.8%. The next largest groups are White (26.3%) and Hispanic (8.4%). 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 Raychelle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Raychelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.8% (284 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 Raychelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Raychelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Raychelle 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 Raychelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Raychelle 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 Raychelle 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 Raychelle?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Raychelle, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.