Rachel
Masculine · “ewe”
Rachel is given to girls far more often — 573,957 girls against 1,791 boys since 1880. See Rachel as a girl name
A woman with this name took on the chemical industry and won posthumously. Her book about pesticides was attacked before publication and after it, she was called hysterical and unqualified in print, and a presidential committee reviewed the evidence and agreed with her. She was dead within two years of the book appearing.
How old is the name Rachel?
Rachel first appears in US birth records in 1899 — 126 years ago. The typical Rachel alive today was born around 1984, making them about 41 years old. About 1,400 people named Rachel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rachel most popular?
Rachel peaked in 1984, reaching #976 nationally. See the whole 1984 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rachel to Rachel
The story of Rachel
She does one thing in the story that readers rarely notice. Leaving her father's house for good, she takes the household gods with her — the small figures that carried a family's authority and possibly its inheritance rights — and when he catches up and searches the camp, she is sitting on them in the camel's saddle and tells him she cannot get up because she is menstruating. He does not search further. It is a theft, a deception and a joke at the expense of the gods themselves, and the text reports it without a word of comment.
Meaning
ewe
Hebrew, and unusually concrete: the word means a female sheep. Pastoral names of that kind are common in the same text and the sense has never been disputed.
How the name formed
- Rachel
- Rahel
Related forms: Rachel · Raquel · Rachelle · Rachele
Pronouncing Rachel
RAY-chul
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Hebrew and most European languages put it on the second and give the ch a harder value.
Nicknames for Rachel
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
- 1899
- Most boys named
- 1989106 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #976reached in 1984
- Change vs 2012
- −28.6%5 in 2018, from 7
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.
Rachel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rachel in Hebrew — same name
- Raquel in Spanish — same name
- Rachelle in French — spelling variant
- Rachele in Italian — same name
Rachels among us
people named Rachel are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Rachel sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is ancient, universally recognized and carried in every European language.
- The meaning is concrete and gentle rather than abstract.
- Rae sits inside it as a short form that stands entirely alone.
- Its peak was recent enough and large enough to date the name to a decade.
- Rachael and Rachelle are both in use and the spelling occasionally gets queried.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
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What they receive
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Rachel
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Rachels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Rachel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rachel in 2025?
- Rachel is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Rachel with classmates?
- Rachel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Robert#92 · Richard#234 · Ronald#637 · Ryan#99 · Raymond#394 · Roger#832 · Ralph#1046 · Roy#525
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rachel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rachel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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