Rajan
Masculine · “Sanskrit "king”
Rajan means king, and the word is one of the great pieces of evidence for the Indo-European language family. Sanskrit rājan, Latin rex and Irish rí all descend from a single reconstructed root — which means Rajan and the Latin regina behind Reine and Lareina are cousins separated by five thousand years.
How old is the name Rajan?
Rajan first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Rajan alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 1,000 people named Rajan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rajan most popular?
Rajan peaked in 1981, reaching #2270 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 4,924 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From *h₃rēǵs to Rajan
The story of Rajan
Rājan is the stem form and raja the nominative, which is why English borrowed raja as the word for an Indian prince while the name in South Asia is usually Rajan or Raj. The name is common across India — in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Bengal — and is often a full name rather than a shortening. Its American figures rise with post-1965 South Asian immigration and peak in 1981, in the first American-born generation of that migration.
Meaning
Sanskrit "king, ruler"
From Sanskrit rājan, a king, from a verbal root meaning to rule, to direct or to make straight. The same root gives Latin rex and regere, to rule, and Irish rí. The etymology is one of the best-attested cognate sets in comparative linguistics. Raja and Rajan are the same word in different grammatical forms.
How the name formed
- *h₃rēǵs
- rājan
- Rajan
Related forms: राजन् · राजन · ராஜன் · Rex
Pronouncing Rajan
RAH-jun
Two syllables with the stress on the first and an open first vowel. English speakers sometimes say ruh-JAHN with the stress on the second, which is not the Sanskrit or Hindi pattern.
Nicknames for Rajan
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
- 200735 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2270reached in 1981
- Change vs 2024
- −15.4%11 in 2025, from 13
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.
Rajan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- राजन् in Sanskrit — same name
- राजन in Hindi — same name
- ராஜன் in Tamil — same name
- Rex in Latin — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Rajans among us
people named Rajan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Rajan
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 Filemon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rajan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Filemon climbed just as high around 1928, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Filemon's path sketches the road Rajan is walking now.
Rajan 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
Rajan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rajan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is settled and connects to a cognate set spanning half the world.
- Raj is a short, strong, widely recognized form.
- It is used across many Indian languages rather than one region.
- A name that means king is a large claim to hand to a child.
- The stress placement varies among English speakers.
- Rajan, Rajen and Rajun all appear in American records.
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What they receive
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Rajan
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rajans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Rajan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rajan in 2025?
- Rajan ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rajan?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Rajan — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rajan with classmates?
- Rajan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rajan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Macon#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rajan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rajan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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