Raylene
Feminine · “counsel and protection”
There is a family of mid-century American women's names ending in -lene and -leen, and it is the exact counterpart of the men's -ell family. Raylene, Charlene, Darlene, Arlene and Marlene run through the same two decades and use the same mechanism on the other side.
How old is the name Raylene?
Raylene first appears in US birth records in 1926 — 99 years ago. The typical Raylene alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 3,600 people named Raylene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Raylene most popular?
Raylene peaked in 1949, reaching #1210 nationally. Today it ranks #6838, 5,628 places below that high. See the whole 1949 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Raymond to Raylene
The story of Raylene
American naming between the 1930s and the 1970s had two productive suffixes for making new names from old ones, and both came from French. The -elle and -ell ending gave Janell, Danelle and, on the men's side, Donell and Terrell. The -lene and -leen ending gave Charlene, Darlene, Arlene, Marlene and Raylene. They peak in the same decades and were used by the same families, often across siblings, and they declined together in the 1970s. Raylene's best year in United States records is 1949, and its use was strongest in the American South and in Appalachia, where it remains recognizable as a name of that generation.
Meaningscholars disagree
counsel and protection, with a French-derived ending
Ray shortens Raymond, from Germanic ragin, counsel, and mund, protection; it is also an English surname and the word for a beam of light. The -lene ending derives from the French -line and -lene of Marlene, Charlene and Adeline, and carries no meaning of its own. The compound therefore inherits whichever Ray the family had in mind, and nothing else.
How the name formed
- Raymond
- Ray
- Raylene
Related forms: Raelene · Raylynn
Pronouncing Raylene
RAY-leen
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Some families say ray-LEEN with the weight at the end, following Charlene, and both are current.
Nicknames for Raylene
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
- 1926
- Most girls named
- 196272 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1210reached in 1949
- Change vs 2023
- −51.5%16 in 2025, from 33
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.
Raylene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Raelene in English — spelling variant
- Raylynn in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Raylenes among us
people named Raylene are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 100,454 born in 2025 was named Raylene
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 Casimira test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Raylene's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Casimira climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Casimira's path sketches the road Raylene is walking now.
Raylene 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
Raylene beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Raylene in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Germanic meaning available through Raymond.
- Ray works alone at any age and is fully unisex.
- Genuinely period-authentic to mid-century American naming.
- Raelene and Raylene both circulate and split the records.
- The -lene family is closely dated to the 1940s through the 1960s.
- Two stress patterns compete and the spelling does not settle them.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Raylene
Feminine · #6838 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Raylenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Raylene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Raylene in 2025?
- Raylene ranks #6838 among US girl names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Raylene?
- About 1 in every 100,454 US girls born in 2025 was named Raylene — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Raylene with classmates?
- Raylene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Raylene
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malana#6838 · Jeannie#6838 · Maxie#6838 · Nicol#6838 · Chaney#6838 · Keana#6838 · Concetta#6838 · Pheobe#6838
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Raylene? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Raylene and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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