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I'm the one who knows two in one class. I think that some names are just locally popular, which doesn't show in national rankings. I still wouldn't say the name is common. When my niece Raelynn was born, I remember seeing birth announcements for more girls named Rayna, Reina, and our second cousin's daughter is Rayleigh. There's also a boy about 2 years younger than them named Raylee. (poor thing. He's stuck with a girl's name.) I haven't heard of any Rae-/Ray- names being in the top 100 here yet, but it was popular here.
Back to Athena. I'm not sure if I'd use it, but there's nothing wrong with it imo. I would pronounce Athene /ah THENE/, but because I'm from the US and don't speak German.