Rani
Feminine · “queen”
Rani is given to both — 1,911 girls and 215 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Rani is the Hindi word for a queen, and it is also the Hebrew for my song — two unconnected languages at four letters.
How old is the name Rani?
Rani first appears in US birth records in 1946 — 79 years ago. The typical Rani alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 1,800 people named Rani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rani most popular?
Rani peaked in 1971, reaching #1937 nationally. Today it ranks #4460, 2,523 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Rani
Ours, offered as ours. Rajni and rex are the same word: the Indo-European root for a ruler gives Sanskrit raja, Latin rex, Irish rí and Gaulish -rix, and the feminine rajni gives rani. So the Hindi for a queen and the Latin for a king descend from one ancient word, which is one of the more satisfying results comparative linguistics has produced. The Hebrew rani, my song, is a separate accident of sound.
Meaningscholars disagree
queen; or my song
Hindi rani is a queen, the feminine of raja, from Sanskrit rajni; the root is the same Indo-European one behind Latin rex. Hebrew rani means my song or joy, from a root about singing. The two are unrelated.
Pronouncing Rani
RAH-nee
Two syllables, first stressed. Hebrew stresses the last, rah-NEE.
Nicknames for Rani
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
- 1946
- Most girls named
- 197144 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1937reached in 1971
- Change vs 2023
- +24.0%31 in 2025, from 25
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.
Rani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rani in Hindi — transliteration
- Rani in Hebrew — related form
- Rajni in Sanskrit — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Ranis among us
people named Rani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 51,847 born in 2025 was named Rani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rani
- #4460
- Rani on the 2025 chart
- #923
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rani went to 31 girls in 2025, but Ranni is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 37, which makes it the 923rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,537 places above the chart.
- Rani31
- Ranni6
About 1 girl in 43,440 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 51,847 for Rani 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 Carlena test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carlena climbed just as high around 1910, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carlena's path sketches the road Rani is walking now.
Rani 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 Rani is headed
Rani should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Rani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two settled meanings in two living languages, both good.
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- The link between rani and rex is genuinely remarkable.
- It is used for both sexes in Hebrew, so forms may guess wrong.
- The stress differs between the Hindi and Hebrew readings.
- Rani, Ranee and Ronnie are all close in an American ear.
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What they receive
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Rani
Feminine · #4460 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ranis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Rani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rani?
- Rani is the most-used spelling in US records — 31 of the 37 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ranni.
- How popular is the name Rani in 2025?
- Rani ranks #4460 among US girl names in 2025, with 31 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rani?
- About 1 in every 51,847 US girls born in 2025 was named Rani — 31 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rani with classmates?
- Rani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jayce#4460 · Nikita#4460 · Magali#4460 · Emari#4460 · Rilyn#4460 · Danyla#4460 · Lynleigh#4460 · Mandy#4460
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rani and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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