Rihana
Feminine · “sweet basil”
Rayhana is a real Arabic name and a Quranic word: the aromatic herbs, sweet basil in particular, that are named among the pleasures of paradise. A woman of that name was among the Prophet's household, and the modern American spelling lands on it from a completely different direction.
How old is the name Rihana?
Rihana first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Rihana alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 700 people named Rihana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rihana most popular?
Rihana peaked in 2007, reaching #2293 nationally. Today it ranks #6838, 4,545 places below that high. See the whole 2007 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From rayhana to Rihana
The story of Rihana
The Arabic Rayhana has been in use for fourteen centuries and belongs to the vocabulary of scent, which classical Arabic treats as a serious category; herbs, oils and perfumes appear in poetry and in religious description alike. Separately, the Barbadian singer born Robyn Rihanna Fenty in 1988 released her first record in 2005 under her middle name, and the American given-name record moves immediately: Rihanna, Rihana, Riana and Ryanna all rise from 2006 and Rihana peaks in 2007. Whether an individual American Rihana is named for the plant or the singer is not recoverable, and the two are unrelated except by sound.
Meaning
sweet basil, aromatic herb
Arabic rayhana, a fragrant plant, particularly sweet basil, from a root covering scent and rest. The plural rayhan appears in the Quran among the good things of paradise, and the word is also used figuratively for something cherished. The American spelling Rihana is a phonetic respelling of the singer's Rihanna rather than a transliteration of the Arabic.
How the name formed
- rayhana
- Rihanna
- Rihana
Related forms: Rayhana · Rihanna · Reyhaneh
Pronouncing Rihana
ree-AH-nah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The Arabic Rayhana has an h between the second and third syllables that this spelling removes, and its first vowel is a diphthong.
Nicknames for Rihana
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
- 1983
- Most girls named
- 200784 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2293reached in 2007
- Change vs 2024
- +45.5%16 in 2025, from 11
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.
Rihana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rayhana in Arabic — related form
- Rihanna in English — spelling variant
- Reyhaneh in Persian — transliteration
Rihanas among us
people named Rihana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 100,454 born in 2025 was named Rihana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rihana
- #6838
- Rihana on the 2025 chart
- #857
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rihana went to 16 girls in 2025, but Rihanna is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 103, which makes it the 857th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,981 places above the chart.
- Rihanna87
- Rihana16
About 1 girl in 15,605 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 100,454 for Rihana 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 Marshell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rihana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marshell climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marshell's path sketches the road Rihana is walking now.
Rihana 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
Rihana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rihana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuine Arabic name with a settled and pleasant meaning sits close by.
- Ri and Hana are both short forms with independent lives.
- Three open syllables, so it is very easy to say.
- Rihanna with the doubled n is far more common and is one person's name.
- The Arabic Rayhana is spelled and said differently.
- Rihana, Riana and Rianna all circulate.
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What they receive
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Rihana
Feminine · #6838 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rihanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Rihana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rihana?
- Rihana is one of 2 recorded spellings. Rihanna is the more common one — 87 births in 2025 against 16 for Rihana.
- How popular is the name Rihana in 2025?
- Rihana ranks #6838 among US girl names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rihana?
- About 1 in every 100,454 US girls born in 2025 was named Rihana — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rihana with classmates?
- Rihana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rihana
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 Rihana? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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