Rae
Rae is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 184 births. Its best rank was 313th, in 1892.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 1840.01% of girls
- Peak year
- 1956406 births
- Best rank
- #313in 1892
- Since 1880
- 24,242people given the name
The story in the numbers
23,287 girls have been named Rae in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1956, with 406 births.
This is a comeback. After an early peak the name fell to a fraction of its former share, and it has been climbing again for the past decade.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1954, and the 1950s alone account for 15%. It has spent 101 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 955 boys have also been given it, 3.9% of the total.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Rae | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 262 | |
| 1890s | 673 | |
| 1900s | 699 | |
| 1910s | 1,738 | |
| 1920s | 1,873 | |
| 1930s | 2,096 | |
| 1940s | 2,660 | |
| 1950s | 3,456 | |
| 1960s | 2,895 | |
| 1970s | 1,848 | |
| 1980s | 1,250 | |
| 1990s | 921 | |
| 2000s | 625 | |
| 2010s | 1,228 | |
| 2020s | 1,063 |
In 1956, its biggest year
Rae was the 455th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1956 were Mary, Debra, Linda, Deborah and Susan. See all of 1956.
Names that rose and fell with Rae
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Myrapeak 1958
- Catherinepeak 1956
- Janiepeak 1947
- Fredericapeak 1960
- Celestinepeak 1952
- Ceceliapeak 1918
- Mignonpeak 1979
- Thresapeak 1964
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.