Girls' name · peaked in 1892
Rae name popularity since 1925
19,861 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Rae (96.4% girls, 3.6% boys). Half of them were born in 1961 or earlier, so the typical Rae is about 65 years old in 2026. Rae peaked in 1892 as the #313 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 19,861
- Named Rae, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1892
- #313 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,306 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 96.4% girls
- 19,147 girls · 714 boys
- Most popular in
- Wisconsin
- 1.74× its national share
Peak year is the year Rae made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Rae births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1956. Measured as a share of all babies, Rae peaked earlier, in 1892.
- Fastest rise: Between 1930 and 1935, Rae became 1.6× more common.
- Steepest fall: Between 1979 and 1984, its share of baby girls fell by 46%, from 1 in 9,070 to 1 in 16,700.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Rae's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Rae.
Decade by decade
Babies named Rae in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 932 | 88 | – |
| 1930s | 2,096 | 128 | #414 |
| 1940s | 2,660 | 117 | #450 |
| 1950s | 3,456 | 106 | #475 |
| 1960s | 2,895 | 64 | #537 |
| 1970s | 1,848 | 26 | #854 |
| 1980s | 1,250 | 24 | #1,260 |
| 1990s | 921 | 45 | #1,505 |
| 2000s | 626 | 22 | #2,601 |
| 2010s | 1,228 | 50 | #2,055 |
| 2020–25 | 1,235 | 44 | #1,306 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
32.0% of babies named Rae from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Rae is most popular
The index compares Rae's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Rae.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | 1.74× | 470 |
| Ohio | 1.71× | 1,078 |
| Pennsylvania | 1.61× | 1,119 |
| Minnesota | 1.56× | 389 |
| Washington | 1.50× | 343 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Rae's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Rae.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Rae (1892).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data