Given name & surname
Raja
“one who is filled with hope”
Raja is used as a given name and a surname. One Arabic interpretation is “one who is filled with hope.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Arabic interpretation is “one who is filled with hope.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Arabic.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1967. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Raja through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,240
- 864 boys · 376 girls
- Most popular year
- 2001
- 53 babies
- 2025
- 14
- #6,361 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −13%
- Easing
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 14 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 6,361 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 5.7% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 36 in 2001. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 3,542 as a first name in 2020; 3,798 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Raja’s family of names
Raja has a related form in Rajan. Raja has a related form in Rajah. In Burmese usage, Raja is a Roman-alphabet rendering of ရာဇာ.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Raja
- Raja Ravi VarmaIndian painter from Kerala (1848–1906)
- Rajaraja IChola Emperor947–1014
- Raja RaoIndian-born English writer (1908–2006)
- BirbalMughal advisor at Akbar's court, appearing in many folk tales which focus on his wit1528–1586
- Raja GosnellAmerican film editor and directorborn 1958
- Raja ChariAmerican astronautborn 1977
- Raja BellAmerican basketball playerborn 1976
- Raja RamannaIndian nuclear scientist (1925-2004)
- Raja KrishnamoorthiAmerican lawyer and politician (born 1973)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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