How Many People Are Named Ralph?
people named Ralph are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 2,463 people in the US has this name
Based on 415,858 babies named Ralph in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
⭐ Uncommon
Peak Year
8,902 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Contracted form of the Old Norse name RÁÐÚLFR (or its Norman form Radulf). Scandinavian settlers introduced it to England before the Norman conquest, though afterwards it was bolstered by Norman influence. In the Middle Ages it was usually spelled Ralf, but by the 17th century it was most commonly Rafe, reflecting the normal pronunciation. The Ralph spelling appeared in the 18th century. A famous bearer of the name was Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), an American poet and author who wrote on transcendentalism.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
Same Sound, Other Spellings
These names are pronounced like Ralph in English. Counting Ralph and these spellings together, about 141,636 people alive in the US have the name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Almost all of the babies given the name Ralph (99.5%) were boys.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Ralph alive today is about 65 years old, and 71% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 57 and 77 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Ralph first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1921, to 8,902 babies. In 2025, 211 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Ralph never made the top 10 boys' names. Its best rank was #21, in 1914 to 1917, and it was in the top 100 for 84 years, 1880 to 1963. In 2025 it ranked #1,048.
| Boys | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #1,048 |
| Best rank | #21 (1914 to 1917) |
| Years in the top 100 | 84 (1880 to 1963) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #25 in the 1920s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Ralph alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Ralph were born in New York than in any other state: about 14,484 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Ralph was given 1.5 times as often in Delaware, 1.5 times in Maine and 1.4 times in West Virginia.
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