Rayma
Feminine
Rayma is built on a word about light. Ray came into English from the Latin for a spoke or a beam, and the same word gave radius, radiate, radio and radar — a family of words about things traveling outward in straight lines from a center, which is a good deal of physics packed into three letters.
How old is the name Rayma?
Rayma first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Rayma alive today was born around 1945, making them about 80 years old. About 600 people named Rayma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rayma most popular?
Rayma peaked in 1947, reaching #1377 nationally. See the whole 1947 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a Latin word for the spoke of a wheel to Rayma
The story of Rayma
The Latin word behind ray meant the spoke of a wheel before it meant a beam of light, and the metaphor is exact: spokes go outward from a hub in straight lines, and so does light. From that one word English has radius, which is still the spoke; radiate; radiation; radio, which travels outward the same way; and radar, which is an acronym that was built to sound like the rest of the family. A name carrying it is carrying one of the most productive roots in scientific English, though nobody choosing it in 1911 was thinking about that.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The front is almost certainly the English word, or the short form of Raymond that was extremely common in the years this name appears; the ending is one of the several that American naming attached freely to anything. Which of those two Rays a family had in mind is not recoverable, and for a good many households the answer will have been both at once — a name for a grandfather and a word about light, in the same three letters.
How the name formed
- a Latin word for the spoke of a wheel
- French and English take it for a beam of light
- Raymond and Ray in wide American use
- Rayma appears in the record in the 1910s
- peaks in the 1940s and fades
Related forms: Rayma · Rayme
Pronouncing Rayma
RAY-muh
Two syllables, stress at the front. There is no competing reading, which is unusual for a name with no documented origin.
Nicknames for Rayma
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
- 1911
- Most girls named
- 194230 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1377reached in 1947
- Change vs 2015
- −14.3%6 in 2022, from 7
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.
Rayma in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rayma in English — same name
- Rayme in English — spelling variant
Raymas among us
people named Rayma are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Rayma sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is short, warm and read correctly by everybody at sight.
- Ray is available inside it and works for a child of either sex.
- The word behind it is concrete and pleasant, which many coinages of the period lack.
- It will be heard as Rayna, Reba and Roma by people meeting it once.
- There is no documented origin and the likeliest parent is a guess.
- It is firmly of the first half of the last century.
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Rayma
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Raymas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Rayma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rayma in 2025?
- Rayma is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Rayma with classmates?
- Rayma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Ruth#173 · Rebecca#349 · Rachel#250 · Rose#114 · Ruby#64 · Robin#704 · Rita#1285 · Rhonda#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rayma? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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