Rayshon
A masculine name with uncertain origins, possibly meaning "little ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 779 living Americans carry the first name Rayshon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rayshon today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rayshon births was 1995 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rayshon. 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
779
~ 1 in 439,993 Americans
Peak year
1995
33 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,786
Tracked since 1971
Census
Rayshon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 596 people with the first name Rayshon, which placed it at #18,169 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
#18,169
National first-name rank
People counted
596
596 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rayshon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rayshon is Black at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.9%) 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 Rayshon 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 Rayshon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.9% · 512
- Two or more races7.9% · 47
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 22
- White2.2% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 2
Popularity
Rayshon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rayshon from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 223 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
Rayshon 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 Rayshon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rayshons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Ohio, New Jersey, Texas recorded the most babies named Rayshon, while Texas, New Jersey, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rayshon
The name Rayshon has its origins in the ancient Semitic languages of the Middle East. It is believed to be derived from the Arabic word "rayshan," which means "feather" or "plume." This name likely originated among nomadic tribes in the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding regions during the early centuries of the common era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rayshon can be found in the annals of the Umayyad Caliphate, which ruled a vast empire stretching from the Iberian Peninsula to Central Asia between the 7th and 8th centuries CE. According to these records, a military commander named Rayshon ibn Khalid led the Umayyad forces in a decisive battle against the Byzantines in Anatolia in the year 692 CE.
In the centuries that followed, the name Rayshon appeared sporadically in various Islamic texts and historical accounts, often associated with scholars, poets, and warriors from the Arab world. One notable figure was Rayshon al-Kindi, a renowned philosopher and mathematician who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century CE and made significant contributions to the fields of optics and medicine.
During the Medieval period, the name Rayshon gained some popularity among certain Muslim communities in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. A prominent example is Rayshon ibn Idris, a Moroccan explorer and trader who traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean region in the 12th century CE, documenting his journeys in a famous travelogue.
As the Islamic empires expanded and trade routes flourished, the name Rayshon began to spread to other parts of the world. In the 14th century, a Persian poet named Rayshon al-Din Samarkandi gained acclaim for his lyrical works celebrating the beauty of nature and the human experience.
Over the centuries, the name Rayshon has been borne by numerous other individuals of note, including Rayshon al-Andalusi, a renowned architect from the Moorish period in Spain, who designed several iconic buildings in cities like Seville and Granada in the 15th century CE. Another historical figure was Rayshon al-Maghribi, a Moroccan scholar and linguist who lived in the 16th century and authored several influential works on Arabic grammar and lexicography.
While the name Rayshon has retained its Arabic roots, it has also been adopted and adapted by various cultures across the globe, reflecting the spread of Islamic civilization and the enduring influence of the Arabic language.
People
Rayshon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rayshon 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
Rayshon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rayshon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 779 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rayshon 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 439,993 US residents.
Is Rayshon a common name?
We classify Rayshon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 801 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rayshon most popular?
The single biggest year for Rayshon was 1995, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rayshon 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 Rayshon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 596 people with the name Rayshon, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,169 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 Rayshon 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 Rayshon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rayshon leans strongly male. 551 people counted with this name were male (92.9%), compared with 42 female bearers (7.1%). 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 Rayshon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rayshon is Black at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.9%) 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 Rayshon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rayshon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.9% (512 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 Rayshon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rayshon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rayshon 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 Rayshon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rayshon 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 Rayshon 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 Rayshon?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.