Explore the Family Name Rave

The meaning of Rave

1. North German and Dutch: variant of German Rabe and of Dutch and German Raaf. 2. Spanish: possibly from Catalan rave ‘rape’ (the plant). Some characteristic forenames: Spanish Jaime, Alejandro, Andres, Jose, Juan, Mario, Rodrigo, Valeria.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Rave in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Rave has seen a slight decline from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 26,493 in terms of frequency but dropped to 28,100 by 2010, representing a 6.07% decrease. The actual count of people carrying the Rave surname also fell slightly from 866 in 2000 to 852 in 2010, a decline of 1.62%. Furthermore, the proportion of people with this surname per 100,000 has decreased by 9.38%, from 0.32 to 0.29.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#26,493	#28,100	-6.07%
Count	866	852	-1.62%
Proportion per 100k	0.32	0.29	-9.38%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Rave

When looking at the ethnic identity associated with the surname Rave, changes can be observed over the decade as per the Decennial U.S. Census data. While the percentage identifying as White saw a decrease of 15.67%, from 63.05% in 2000 to 53.17% in 2010, the Hispanic group witnessed a rise from 17.21% to 22.18%, an increase of 28.88%. There was also a significant growth in those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and of two or more races, increasing by 102.47% and 145.22% respectively. Conversely, there was a small decrease among those identifying as Black, down by 4.86%. American Indian and Alaskan Native group saw a moderate increase of 15.62%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	63.05%	53.17%	-15.67%
Hispanic	17.21%	22.18%	28.88%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	15.94%	18.43%	15.62%
Two or More Races	1.15%	2.82%	145.22%
Black	1.85%	1.76%	-4.86%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.81%	1.64%	102.47%