Rayce
Masculine
Rayce is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,413 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
Rayce is a respelling that lands between two English words — race, from a Norse word for a run, and Reece, the Welsh name meaning ardor.
How old is the name Rayce?
Rayce first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Rayce alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,400 people named Rayce are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rayce most popular?
Rayce peaked in 2012, reaching #1742 nationally. Today it ranks #3848, 2,106 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Rayce
Ours, offered as ours. The English word race in the sense of a contest is a Norse import — ras, a rush or a headlong run — and it is entirely unrelated to the other race, the one about ancestry, which came from Italian by way of French much later. Two words, one spelling, no connection whatever. Rayce as a name sits on the older and cleaner of the two, or on the Welsh name, and there is no way to tell which.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source is established for this spelling. The English race, a contest of speed, is from Old Norse ras, a running or a rush. Welsh Rhys, ardor, gives Reece and Reese. The modern name may draw on either and neither is documented.
Pronouncing Rayce
RAYSS
One syllable. Rayce, Race and Reece are said identically.
Nicknames for Rayce
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
- 1960
- Most boys named
- 201286 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1742reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- +33.3%28 in 2025, from 21
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.
Rayce in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rhys in Welsh — related form
- Race in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Rayces among us
people named Rayce are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 61,003 born in 2025 was named Rayce
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 Jamichael test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rayce's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jamichael climbed just as high around 1993, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jamichael's path sketches the road Rayce is walking now.
Rayce 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 Rayce is headed
Rayce 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.
Rayce beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rayce in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ray and Ace are both complete short forms in their own right.
- Five letters and one syllable, easy to write and impossible to mispronounce.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It sounds identical to an ordinary English noun with two unrelated senses.
- Race, Rayce, Reece and Reese are all in use and none is dominant.
- There is no documented meaning for this spelling.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Rayce
Masculine · #3848 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rayces 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 Rayce are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rayce in 2025?
- Rayce ranks #3848 among US boy names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rayce?
- About 1 in every 61,003 US boys born in 2025 was named Rayce — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rayce with classmates?
- Rayce will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rayce
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Armand#3848 · Tracy#3848 · Stafford#3848 · Dewey#3848 · Donny#3848 · Trevion#3848 · Coltyn#3848 · Isreal#3848
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rayce? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rayce and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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