Rahul
Masculine · “Sanskrit rahula”
The Buddha named his son Rahula, and the traditional explanation is uncomfortable: the word means fetter, and the child was the tie that bound him to the household life he was about to leave. Few names in any tradition are so openly about the parent rather than the child.
How old is the name Rahul?
Rahul first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Rahul alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 3,200 people named Rahul are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rahul most popular?
Rahul peaked in 2000, reaching #818 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 8,092 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rahula to Rahul
The story of Rahul
The Pali and Sanskrit accounts say that Siddhartha, on being told of his son's birth, remarked that a fetter had been born, and the child was named accordingly. Whether the story records the naming or explains it after the fact is exactly the kind of question that cannot be settled, and it is the same shape as the Hebrew Bible's own name-explanations, which are puns offered by narrators rather than etymologies. Rahula later became a monk himself and appears in the canon as the subject of several discourses on truthfulness. The name's modern popularity in India owes more to twentieth-century figures than to the canon, and it traveled to the United States with post-1965 South Asian migration, peaking in 2000 with the American-born children of that generation.
Meaningscholars disagree
Sanskrit rahula, a fetter or bond
Rahul derives from Sanskrit Rahula, the name of the Buddha's son, traditionally glossed as a fetter, bond or impediment; some sources connect it instead to Rahu, the eclipse-causing figure of Indian astronomy, giving something like the one who seizes. Modern Indian usage often attaches gentler readings such as capable or efficient, which are not supported by the older sources. The American peak is 2000.
How the name formed
- Rahula
- Rahul
Related forms: Rahula · Rahul · Rahula
Pronouncing Rahul
rah-HOOL
Two syllables, stress on the second. The h is fully pronounced between the vowels, which English speakers often drop, producing RAH-ool.
Nicknames for Rahul
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
- 1966
- Most boys named
- 2001187 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #818reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- +33.3%8 in 2025, from 6
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.
Rahul in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rahula in Sanskrit — same name
- Rahul in Hindi — same name
- Rahula in Sinhala — same name
Rahuls among us
people named Rahul are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Rahul
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 Dorman test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rahul's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dorman climbed just as high around 1928, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dorman's path sketches the road Rahul is walking now.
Rahul 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
Rahul beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rahul in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters, two syllables, and no difficult English sounds.
- It is one of the most recognized Indian men's names.
- The historical association is documented in the earliest sources.
- The traditional meaning is a fetter, which many find odd.
- English speakers tend to drop the medial h.
- Modern gentler glosses are not supported by the sources.
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What they receive
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Rahul
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rahuls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,200 people named Rahul are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rahul in 2025?
- Rahul ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rahul?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Rahul — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rahul with classmates?
- Rahul will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rahul
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rahul? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rahul and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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