Rae

Did you know?

A few things about Rae you might not know, from US birth records and Wikipedia. Handy for convincing a partner, or a grandparent.

⭐ Famous Rae

Rae Dawn Chong

Canadian-American actress

Choose Rae and your child shares a first name with Rae Dawn Chong, a Canadian-American actress. A ready-made answer when someone asks “Rae, like who?” Rae Dawn Chong's Wikipedia article is available in 25 languages, a good sign of just how widely known they are.

Read about Rae Dawn Chong on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Photo: Eastern Video Productions (credit at 18:56), CC BY 3.0 (opens in a new tab), via Wikimedia Commons

• 👶How commonAbout 1 in every 9,398 baby girls born in the US in 2025 was named Rae, 171 babies in all. In a typical school of 500 kids, your Rae would very likely be the only one.
• 📜HistoryRae has been in use since at least 1880, the first year US birth records were kept. That's 145 years of Raes, and counting.
• 🏆Best yearIt was far more popular in 1892, when it ranked #311. Today it's #1,299, so it could be due a comeback.
• 📈Then vs nowRae is 2.6× more common today than it was in 2000. In 2000 it was given to about 1 in 24,570 baby girls; in 2025, about 1 in 9,398.
• 🍂TrendRae has slipped 236 places over the last five years and now sits at #1,299. Good news if you want a familiar name that fewer kids will share.
• 📍Where it's lovedRae is most popular in Utah, where it ranks #440, followed by Oregon (#619) and Arizona (#748). It's in the top 1,000 in 4 states.

About the name Rae

Rae is a girl name of English, German and Hebrew origin. It has 3 letters and 1 syllable, starting with R and ending in “-rae”. US birth records list Rae for girls from 1880 to 2025, in 146 of those 146 years. Its best year was 1892, when it ranked #311 among girl names. In 2025 it ranked #1,299, with 171 babies.

Origin:English namesGerman namesHebrew namesScottish names