Renaldo
Masculine · “ruling by counsel”
Renaldo is a knight's name. Rinaldo is one of the great figures of the Italian romance epics — a paladin of Charlemagne, quarrelsome and brave, chasing an enchanted horse across half of Europe in poems that were the popular literature of their day. The Spanish spelling with the e is the version that reached American records, and behind both is a Germanic compound about advice from the gods.
How old is the name Renaldo?
Renaldo first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Renaldo alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 2,300 people named Renaldo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Renaldo most popular?
Renaldo peaked in 1982, reaching #823 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,185 places below that high. See the whole 1982 chart.
Where it comes from
From Raginwald to Renaldo
The story of Renaldo
Reginald and Reynold are the English forms; Rinaldo is the Italian, and it belongs to the cycle of poems about Charlemagne's knights that Italy produced in the Renaissance, above all Ariosto's — poems read aloud in workshops and squares, which is how a literary name becomes a common one. Spanish made Reinaldo and Renaldo. American records carry it from Spanish-speaking and Italian families, and its shape here follows a later twentieth-century wave rather than the older immigration, which suggests it arrived as much through sport and music as through baptism.
Meaning
ruling by counsel
From the Germanic ragin, counsel or judgment — specifically the counsel of the gods, in the older religious sense — and wald, rule or power. The same first element opens Ragnar and Reynold, and it makes this a name about deciding well rather than about winning.
How the name formed
- Raginwald
- Reginaldus
- Rinaldo
- Renaldo
Related forms: Rinaldo · Reinaldo · Reinaldo · Reginald · Reinhold · Renaud
Pronouncing Renaldo
reh-NAHL-doh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. English speakers sometimes say ruh-NAL-doh with a flatter middle vowel, which is close enough that nobody is confused.
Nicknames for Renaldo
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 1982116 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #823reached in 1982
- Change vs 2023
- −50.0%5 in 2025, from 10
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Renaldo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rinaldo in Italian — same name
- Reinaldo in Spanish — spelling variant
- Reinaldo in Portuguese — same name
- Reginald in English — same name
- Reinhold in German — same name
- Renaud in French — same name
Renaldos among us
people named Renaldo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Renaldo
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kipp test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Renaldo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kipp climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kipp's path sketches the road Renaldo is walking now.
Renaldo sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Renaldo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Renaldo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a documented literary history as well as a Germanic etymology, which is an unusual pairing.
- Naldo is a real and warm short form used across two languages.
- It crosses Spanish and English without respelling, and every syllable is easy to say.
- The meaning is about judgment rather than force, which sets it apart from most Germanic compounds.
- Reinaldo and Rinaldo are the standard spellings in Spanish and Italian, so relatives may write it differently.
- It sits very close to Ronaldo, a name carried by two of the most famous athletes alive, and will be confused with it constantly.
- Three syllables and seven letters is a substantial name for a small child, though the short forms help.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Renaldo
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Renaldos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Renaldo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Renaldo in 2025?
- Renaldo ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Renaldo?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Renaldo — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Renaldo with classmates?
- Renaldo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Renaldo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Delmer#12008 · Thurston#12008 · Corrie#12008 · Colvin#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Renaldo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Renaldo and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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