Rahma
Feminine · “mercy”
Rahma is mercy in Arabic — and the root is rahm, the womb, so mercy is named for a mother's body.
How old is the name Rahma?
Rahma first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Rahma is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,500 people named Rahma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rahma most popular?
Rahma peaked in 2016, reaching #2033 nationally. Today it ranks #2239, 206 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From rahm to Rahma
The story of Rahma
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim opens all but one sura, and both divine names descend from the word for a womb — mercy conceived as the relation of a mother to what she carries. Hebrew makes the same connection independently. Rahma is standard across Arabic naming and is in current American use.
Meaning
mercy, compassion
From the Arabic rahma, 'mercy', from the root r-h-m, which also gives rahm, 'womb'. Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim, the two divine names opening nearly every sura, come from it. The Hebrew rachamim, 'compassion', shares the root with rechem, 'womb'. The etymology is documented.
How the name formed
- rahm
- rahma
- Rahma
Related forms: رحمة · Rehema · Rahmah
Pronouncing Rahma
RAH-mah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Arabic gives the h a deep throat sound English lacks.
Nicknames for Rahma
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
- 1990
- Most girls named
- 201697 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2033reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- −1.2%82 in 2025, from 83
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.
Rahma in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- رحمة in Arabic — transliteration
- Rehema in Swahili — related form
- Rahmah in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Minnesota, New York, Ohio.
Rahmas among us
people named Rahma are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 19,601 born in 2025 was named Rahma
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rahma
- #2239
- Rahma on the 2025 chart
- #855
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rahma went to 82 girls in 2025, but Rahmah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 105, which makes it the 855th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,384 places above the chart.
- Rahma82
- Rahmah23
About 1 girl in 15,307 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 19,601 for Rahma itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sela test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rahma's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sela climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sela's path sketches the road Rahma is walking now.
Rahma 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
Where Rahma is headed
Rahma should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Rahma beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rahma in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That mercy and womb share a root in Arabic and Hebrew alike is a first-rate fact.
- The mercy meaning is transparent and warm.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
- The Arabic h is not reproducible in English.
- It reads as specifically Muslim.
- Rahma and Rahmah are both in circulation.
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What they receive
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Rahma
Feminine · #2239 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rahmas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Rahma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rahma?
- Rahma is the most-used spelling in US records — 82 of the 105 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Rahmah.
- How popular is the name Rahma in 2025?
- Rahma ranks #2239 among US girl names in 2025, with 82 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rahma?
- About 1 in every 19,601 US girls born in 2025 was named Rahma — 82 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rahma with classmates?
- Rahma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rahma
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Naiomi#2239 · Jaelani#2239 · Desire#2239 · Jazmyn#2239 · Kelsie#2239 · Bracha#2239 · Collette#2239 · Mirabelle#2239
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rahma? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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