Rae
About Rae
All the old ae/ay middle names for girls are back — Kay, Fay, Mae/May — and Rae is one of the coolest, used as such by celebrities as Mark Wahlberg and Daniel Baldwin.
Even more popular in the celebrisphere is the jazzy Ray spelling: among those who used it as their daughters' middles are Bruce Willis, Dermot Mulroney, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, Uma Thurman and Lee Lee Sobieski.
But Rae is perfectly capable of standing on her own, as in Rae Dawn Chong; it was in the Top 500 in the first two decades of the twentieth century.
As of October 2026, Rae ranked #1306 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #313 in 1892, Nameberry popularity #706.
Editor's take: The name Rae is a girl's name of Hebrew, English origin meaning "ewe".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #2,150 | 89 | 49.8 |
| 2015 | #2,055 | 96 | 53.8 |
| 2016 | #1,261 | 194 | 109.5 |
| 2017 | #1,433 | 159 | 92.1 |
| 2018 | #1,126 | 218 | 128.2 |
| 2019 | #1,179 | 200 | 119.2 |
| 2020 | #1,069 | 232 | 143.5 |
| 2021 | #1,047 | 241 | 146.9 |
| 2022 | #1,170 | 207 | 126.2 |
| 2023 | #1,204 | 199 | 124 |
| 2024 | #1,265 | 184 | 113.6 |
| 2025 | #1,306 | 171 | 106.4 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Rae.
Famous Raes
- Rae Dawn Chong
Canadian actress
- Rae Ritke
American actress
- Rae Allen (born Raffaella Julia Theresa Abruzzo)
American actress
- Rae Armantrout
American poet
- Rae Baker
English actress
- Rae Carson
American novelist
- Rachel "Rae" Earl
English broadcaster and novelist
- Rae Hendrie
Scottish actress
- Rae Woodland
English operatic soprano
- Carly Rae Jepsen
Canadian singer
- Kaye Lani Rae Rafko
Miss America 1988
- Jo
Issa Rae Diop, birth name of Issa Rae, American actress and director
- Charlotte Rae (Lubotsky)
American character actress
- Corinne Jacqueline Bailey Rae
British singer,songwriter
- Rae Williams
daughter of TV journalist Juan Williams
- Hayley Rae Wylde
daughter of musician Zakk Wylde
- Indy Rae Johnston
daughter of Levi Johnston and Sunny Oglesby
- Wylda Rae Taylor
Johnson, daughter of actor Aaron Taylor,Johnson and British artist Sam Taylor,Johnson
- Addison Rae
American singer
- Tate McRae
Canadian singer and dancer
Rae in pop culture
- Rae Wilson
character on British soap "Hollyoaks"
- Rae Cummings
character on American soap "One Life to Live"
- Rae Earl
main character on British TV series 'My Mad Fat Diary'
- Norma Rae Webster
main character in 1979 film "Norma Rae"
- Stevie Rae Johnson
a main character from the 'House Of Night' series
- Raven "Rae
" character on TV's "That's so Raven"
- Hot Chelle Rae
U.S. pop,rock band
- Delta Rae
folk rock band
- "Jasey Rae
" song by All Time Low