Rahmel vs Rahsaan
American parents have registered 1,620 Rahsaans since 1880, against 732 Rahmels. But in 2025 it was Rahmel that was commoner, 10 babies to fewer than five.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Rahmel Rahsaan
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 56 years in which either name was published, Rahsaan for 36 years and Rahmel for 20 years. The lead changed hands 17 times.
- 1970–1983 Rahsaan ahead
- 1987–1992 Rahmel ahead
- 1993–2005 Rahsaan ahead, apart from one short spell
- 2006–2008 Rahmel ahead
- 2016–2018 Rahsaan ahead
- 2019–2022 Rahmel ahead
11 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Rahmel | Rahsaan | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 732 | 1,620 |
| Most in one year | 24 | 116 |
| Babies in 2025 | 10 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 710 | 1,500 |
| Median age today | 26 | 42 |
| Peak year | 1991 | 1973 |
| Best rank | 2,753rd boys | 745th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 7,679th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1975 | 1970 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 732 | 6 / 1,614 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Rahsaans alive today are over 42; half the Rahmels are over 26. That is 16 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Both names abroad
Countries whose statistics office publishes both names, so the comparison can be made somewhere other than the United States.
| Country | Rahmel | Rahsaan |
|---|---|---|
| England and Wales | 3 | 15 |
Every spelling a country files separately is added together, over whatever years that country publishes — which is not the same range in any two of them, so read the columns against each other and not the rows.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Rahmel and Rahsaan.