Rani
Rani was given to 31 girls in 2025, #4,527 among girls’ names; 2,126 Americans have been recorded with it since 1946 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,040 Americans named Rani and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 31 years old and half are between 18 and 47.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rani by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rani mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rani is “a female given name from Sanskrit.” Its etymology gives the sense “a queen, princess, the wife of a king” (राज्ञी).
From Sanskrit राज्ञी (rājñī, “a queen, princess, the wife of a king”), through Hindi रानी (rānī).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rani?
#4,527 among girls’ names, 2025
Rani rose from #6,925 in 2015 to #4,527 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 10.1 to 19.3 per million.
50 babies in 1979, the peak
Rani peaked in 1979, when 50 babies were given it (43 girls, #2,265 among girls’ names). The 31 births of 2025 are 62% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 31 | #4,527 | under 5 | |
| 2024 | 27 | #4,992 | under 5 | |
| 2023 | 25 | #5,223 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 26 | #5,136 | 7 | #10,600 |
| 2021 | 29 | #4,703 | 7 | #10,538 |
| 2020 | 36 | #3,988 | 7 | #10,346 |
| 2019 | 32 | #4,419 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,462 | 9 | #8,666 |
| 2017 | 16 | #7,359 | 5 | #13,790 |
| 2016 | 25 | #5,418 | 7 | #10,481 |
Every recorded year (76)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 18 | #6,925 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 29 | #4,872 | 14 | #6,226 |
| 2013 | 29 | #4,856 | 7 | #10,473 |
| 2012 | 27 | #5,218 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 15 | #8,113 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 21 | #6,335 | 6 | #11,849 |
| 2009 | 25 | #5,669 | 5 | #14,023 |
| 2008 | 34 | #4,529 | under 5 | |
| 2007 | 34 | #4,447 | 5 | #13,930 |
| 2006 | 27 | #5,193 | 6 | #11,713 |
| 2005 | 37 | #3,926 | 10 | #7,522 |
| 2004 | 22 | #5,707 | 10 | #7,389 |
| 2003 | 37 | #3,790 | 10 | #7,116 |
| 2002 | 27 | #4,586 | 6 | #10,364 |
| 2001 | 30 | #4,175 | 9 | #7,378 |
| 2000 | 36 | #3,637 | 8 | #8,020 |
| 1999 | 32 | #3,775 | under 5 | |
| 1998 | 24 | #4,597 | 6 | #9,361 |
| 1997 | 28 | #3,974 | 6 | #9,000 |
| 1996 | 35 | #3,343 | 5 | #10,184 |
| 1995 | 34 | #3,338 | 12 | #5,045 |
| 1994 | 44 | #2,782 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 33 | #3,395 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 28 | #3,841 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 41 | #2,863 | 6 | #8,009 |
| 1990 | 32 | #3,413 | 8 | #6,274 |
| 1989 | 32 | #3,299 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 21 | #4,271 | 5 | #8,225 |
| 1987 | 13 | #5,844 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 22 | #3,851 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 30 | #3,062 | 5 | #7,335 |
| 1984 | 15 | #4,907 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 27 | #3,123 | 6 | #6,047 |
| 1982 | 39 | #2,480 | 5 | #7,122 |
| 1981 | 28 | #3,123 | 6 | #6,070 |
| 1980 | 37 | #2,579 | under 5 | |
| 1979 | 43 | #2,265 | 7 | #5,236 |
| 1978 | 38 | #2,377 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 41 | #2,241 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 29 | #2,708 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 32 | #2,494 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 36 | #2,242 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 34 | #2,294 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 42 | #1,962 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 44 | #1,959 | under 5 | |
| 1970 | 38 | #2,148 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 31 | #2,340 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 21 | #2,849 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 16 | #3,293 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 14 | #3,498 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 15 | #3,372 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 17 | #3,205 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,816 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 16 | #3,261 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 8 | #5,186 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 5 | #7,087 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 8 | #4,935 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 9 | #4,431 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 12 | #3,633 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,673 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 6 | #5,691 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 5 | #6,426 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 5 | #6,040 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 7 | #4,534 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | 9 | #3,943 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 7 | #4,318 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Rani a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,126 Americans recorded as Rani, 90% are girls and 10% boys. In 2025 it went to 31 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Rani: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rani, and how old are they?
2,040 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 2,126 Americans ever recorded as Rani. The median Rani alive today is 31 years old; half are between 18 and 47.
The 2020 Census counted 3,382 people named Rani (2,848 women and girls, 534 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,881 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.8 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 | 102 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 483 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 516 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 536 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 402 |
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 Rani born?
The states with the most babies named Rani are California, Texas and New York, with 93% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ 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 Rani with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 51,511 babies since 1880, Rani is the eighth most given (4.1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 31 of their 1,322 babies (2.3%), the seventh most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Rani
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 Rani and names like it
- Compare Rani and RaynaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sRani peaked in 1979.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rani since 1910.
- Sanskrit namesWiktionary’s origin for Rani: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1979The year the most babies were named Rani.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Rani alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with RMost given first.