Raj
Raj was given to 22 boys in 2025, #4,670 among boys’ names; 2,176 Americans have been recorded with it since 1950 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,090 Americans named Raj and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 17 and 36.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Raj by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Raj mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Raj is “a male given name.” Its etymology gives the senses “reign, rule; empire, kingdom; country, state; royalty” (راج) and “empire, kingdom, realm; kingship, royalty, sovereignty; country” (राज्य) and “to right or straighten oneself; to govern, rule; just; right” (*h₃reǵ-).
Also “a diminutive of the male given name Rajiv.”
Proprialisation of raj (“(India) reign, rule”, noun), borrowed from Hindustani राज / راج (rāj, “reign, rule; empire, kingdom; country, state; royalty”), from Sanskrit राज्य (rājyá, “empire, kingdom, realm; kingship, royalty, sovereignty; country”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to right or straighten oneself; to govern, rule; just; right”). Doublet of Reich.
/ɹɑd͡ʒ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Raj?
#4,670 among boys’ names, 2025
Raj fell from #3,011 in 2015 to #4,670 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 20.3 to 12.9 per million.
88 babies in 2003, the peak
Raj peaked in 2003, when 88 boys were given it, #1,486 among boys’ names. The 22 births of 2025 are 25% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 22 | #4,670 | 12.9 |
| 2024 | 20 | #5,009 | 11.6 |
| 2023 | 27 | #4,084 | 15.8 |
| 2022 | 25 | #4,266 | 14.3 |
| 2021 | 33 | #3,472 | 18.9 |
| 2020 | 23 | #4,384 | 13.3 |
| 2019 | 31 | #3,614 | 17.3 |
| 2018 | 27 | #3,965 | 14.9 |
| 2017 | 35 | #3,293 | 18.9 |
| 2016 | 23 | #4,437 | 12.1 |
Every recorded year (65)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 39 | #3,011 | 20.3 |
| 2014 | 42 | #2,835 | 21.9 |
| 2013 | 43 | #2,750 | 22.7 |
| 2012 | 42 | #2,857 | 22.1 |
| 2011 | 48 | #2,580 | 25.3 |
| 2010 | 42 | #2,858 | 21.9 |
| 2009 | 41 | #2,935 | 20.7 |
| 2008 | 31 | #3,545 | 15.2 |
| 2007 | 45 | #2,710 | 21.7 |
| 2006 | 38 | #2,968 | 18.5 |
| 2005 | 63 | #1,998 | 31.5 |
| 2004 | 70 | #1,797 | 35.3 |
| 2003 | 88 | #1,486 | 44.5 |
| 2002 | 61 | #1,858 | 31.4 |
| 2001 | 74 | #1,609 | 38.1 |
| 2000 | 76 | #1,567 | 38.7 |
| 1999 | 53 | #1,871 | 27.6 |
| 1998 | 62 | #1,674 | 32.4 |
| 1997 | 50 | #1,875 | 26.5 |
| 1996 | 65 | #1,545 | 34.3 |
| 1995 | 48 | #1,822 | 25.2 |
| 1994 | 35 | #2,285 | 18.1 |
| 1993 | 42 | #1,956 | 21.4 |
| 1992 | 47 | #1,791 | 23.5 |
| 1991 | 51 | #1,641 | 25.2 |
| 1990 | 43 | #1,828 | 20.9 |
| 1989 | 32 | #2,185 | 16.0 |
| 1988 | 26 | #2,338 | 13.6 |
| 1987 | 35 | #1,857 | 18.7 |
| 1986 | 31 | #1,951 | 16.8 |
| 1985 | 24 | #2,276 | 13.0 |
| 1984 | 35 | #1,680 | 19.4 |
| 1983 | 23 | #2,255 | 12.8 |
| 1982 | 25 | #2,152 | 13.8 |
| 1981 | 28 | #1,977 | 15.6 |
| 1980 | 33 | #1,757 | 18.5 |
| 1979 | 19 | #2,536 | 11.0 |
| 1978 | 28 | #1,859 | 17.1 |
| 1977 | 25 | #1,992 | 15.2 |
| 1976 | 24 | #2,036 | 15.3 |
| 1975 | 18 | #2,425 | 11.5 |
| 1974 | 12 | #3,079 | 7.6 |
| 1973 | 23 | #1,913 | 14.8 |
| 1972 | 13 | #2,787 | 8.0 |
| 1971 | 12 | #2,934 | 6.8 |
| 1970 | 22 | #1,920 | 11.8 |
| 1969 | 14 | #2,387 | 7.8 |
| 1968 | 9 | #3,047 | 5.2 |
| 1967 | 9 | #2,933 | 5.2 |
| 1966 | 9 | #2,929 | 5.0 |
| 1965 | 10 | #2,730 | 5.4 |
| 1964 | 15 | #2,180 | 7.5 |
| 1963 | 6 | #3,935 | 3.0 |
| 1962 | 6 | #3,935 | 2.9 |
| 1950 | 5 | #4,081 | 2.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Raj a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Raj has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 65 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Raj: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Raj, and how old are they?
2,090 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 2,176 Americans ever recorded as Raj. The median Raj alive today is 26 years old; half are between 17 and 36.
The 2020 Census counted 7,427 people named Raj (874 women and girls, 6,553 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,972 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.8 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 24 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 250 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 562 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 868 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 387 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Raj born?
The states with the most babies named Raj are California, New Jersey and New York, with 72% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 258 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 191 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| New York | 109 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 78 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 78 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 27 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 12 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Florida | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Massachusetts | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Michigan | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Raj is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Raj is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1950 it was given 3.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Raj with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Raj
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Raj and names like it
- Compare Raj and MathieuBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sRaj peaked in 2003.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Raj since 1910.
- The top names of 2003The year the most babies were named Raj.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Raj alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with RMost given first.