Rabia
Feminine · “fourth”
Rabia of Basra was asked why she was walking through the streets with a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. To burn down paradise and put out the fires of hell, she said, so that people would stop loving God for a reward and love him for himself.
How old is the name Rabia?
Rabia first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Rabia alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 800 people named Rabia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rabia most popular?
Rabia peaked in 1997, reaching #3716 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 7,201 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From rabia to Rabia
The story of Rabia
Rabia al-Adawiyya lived in Basra in the eighth century, was born poor, and is one of the very few women in early Islam whose sayings were collected and preserved in her own name. What she is remembered for is a single idea pushed further than anyone had pushed it: that loving God in hope of heaven or fear of hell is a transaction and not love at all. Sufi writers for the next thousand years quote her on it, and the torch-and-bucket story is the compressed version. The name itself is entirely ordinary — a numeral used as a name, which Arabic does with several of the smaller numbers — and it stayed in wide use from Morocco to Pakistan.
Meaning
fourth
Arabic rabia is the feminine of the ordinary word for fourth, and it was given to a fourth daughter. The eighth-century mystic it is most associated with was the fourth child of her family, which is exactly why she had the name. A separate Arabic word, rabi, means spring, and the two are sometimes confused.
How the name formed
- rabia
- Rabia
Related forms: Rabia · Rabia · Rabia
Pronouncing Rabia
rah-BEE-ah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Turkish says it the same way; American speakers often reduce it to RAY-bee-uh, with the first vowel changed, which is a different sound entirely.
Nicknames for Rabia
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1973
- Most girls named
- 199730 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3716reached in 1997
- Change vs 2024
- −27.3%8 in 2025, from 11
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Rabia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rabia in Arabic — same name
- Rabia in Turkish — same name
- Rabia in Urdu — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California.
Rabias among us
people named Rabia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Rabia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Darlin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rabia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darlin climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darlin's path sketches the road Rabia is walking now.
Rabia sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Rabia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rabia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that is a plain word rather than a reconstruction.
- It is used across Arabic, Turkish, Urdu and Persian-speaking communities without adjustment.
- Three open syllables with a clear central stress.
- The first vowel is regularly anglicized to the a of ray, which changes the name.
- Rabiah, Rabea and Rabi'a all appear in transliteration, so the spelling will be queried.
- The meaning is a number, which is honest but not decorative.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Rabia to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Rabia? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Rabia
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rabias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Rabia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rabia in 2025?
- Rabia ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rabia?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Rabia — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rabia with classmates?
- Rabia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rabia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rabia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rabia and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle