Ricarda
Feminine · “strong ruler”
Ricarda is the Spanish and Italian feminine of Richard. The most recent thing to happen to that name is one of the strangest pieces of archaeology of the century: a king dug out of a municipal parking lot and identified by tracing a living relative.
How old is the name Ricarda?
Ricarda first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Ricarda alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 400 people named Ricarda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ricarda most popular?
Ricarda peaked in 1910, reaching #1935 nationally. See the whole 1910 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ricohard to Ricarda
The story of Ricarda
A researcher convinced an archaeological team to dig in a Leicester car park on the strength of documentary evidence about where a dissolved friary had stood. They found a skeleton in the first trench, with a severe curvature of the spine and battlefield injuries to the skull. Identifying it required living relatives, so genealogists traced the female line down seventeen generations to a Canadian-born cabinetmaker living in London, whose mitochondrial DNA matched. The male line did not match, which raised a separate and entirely awkward question about somebody's paternity several centuries ago that historians are still being polite about.
Meaning
strong ruler
The Germanic elements are usually read as power and hardy, and the reading is settled for the name. This feminine form is standard in Spanish and Italian.
How the name formed
- Ricohard
- Richard
- Ricarda
Related forms: Ricarda · Riccarda · Rikarda
Pronouncing Ricarda
ree-KAR-duh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The r is tapped in Spanish and Italian.
Nicknames for Ricarda
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
- 1910
- Most girls named
- 195221 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1935reached in 1910
- Change vs 1992
- −28.6%5 in 2002, from 7
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.
Ricarda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ricarda in Spanish — same name
- Riccarda in Italian — same name
- Rikarda in German — same name
Ricardas among us
people named Ricarda are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Ricarda sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and can be given in two words.
- It is the standard feminine in two languages rather than an American invention.
- Three syllables with a clear middle stress carry well across a room.
- English readers will hear it as a variant of Ricardo, which is the masculine.
- It is rare enough in the United States to be spelled aloud often.
- The short form is also a Spanish adjective meaning rich or tasty, which will be noticed.
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Ricarda
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Frequently asked
- How many Ricardas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Ricarda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ricarda in 2025?
- Ricarda is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Ricarda with classmates?
- Ricarda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Ruth#173 · Rebecca#349 · Rachel#250 · Rose#114 · Ruby#64 · Robin#704 · Rita#1285 · Rhonda#6116
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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