Ricardo
Feminine · “strong in rule”
Ricardo is given to boys far more often — 146,456 boys against 713 girls since 1880. See Ricardo as a boy name
Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese rebuild of a Germanic name that English keeps in a rougher form. The rebuilding is systematic rather than decorative: Spanish gives a man's name the ending its own masculine nouns take, and the result sounds native in a way that borrowed names usually do not.
How old is the name Ricardo?
Ricardo first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Ricardo alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 700 people named Ricardo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ricardo most popular?
Ricardo peaked in 1986, reaching #3277 nationally. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ricohard to Ricardo
The story of Ricardo
The most consequential argument ever made by a man with this surname is one almost every economics course still opens with. David Ricardo, a London stockbroker who had made a fortune and retired to write, set out to show that two countries both gain from trade even when one of them is better at making everything. His example used England, Portugal, cloth and wine: Portugal can produce both more cheaply, and yet if each country makes the thing it is relatively better at and trades for the rest, both end up with more. The point is about ratios rather than absolute skill, and it is counter-intuitive enough that people who accept it in the abstract still argue against it in particular cases. He also argued, in the same book, that rent is what landowners extract from the mere fact of owning good ground, which made him considerably less popular with the landowners.
Meaning
strong in rule; a brave ruler
The two Germanic elements are a word for rule or power and one meaning hard or brave, which in that naming system was a compliment rather than a description. Spanish took the name from the Normans and French, replaced the final cluster with its own masculine ending, and has treated it as an ordinary native name ever since.
How the name formed
- Ricohard
- Richard
- Ricardo
Related forms: Richard · Riccardo · Richard · Ricardo · Ryszard
Pronouncing Ricardo
ree-KAR-doh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle, which is where Spanish puts it by default for a word ending in a vowel. English speakers often flatten the first vowel to rih, and both are heard.
Nicknames for Ricardo
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
- 1942
- Most girls named
- 198627 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3277reached in 1986
- Change vs 2004
- −25.0%6 in 2005, from 8
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.
Ricardo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Richard in English — same name
- Riccardo in Italian — same name
- Richard in German — same name
- Ricardo in Portuguese — same name
- Ryszard in Polish — same name
Ricardos among us
people named Ricardo 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
Ricardo 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
- It is at home in Spanish, Portuguese and English without being altered.
- Several short forms are available in each of those languages.
- Middle stress on three syllables is a comfortable and memorable rhythm.
- Ricky will attach itself whether or not the family wants it.
- English speakers will reduce the first vowel, which Spanish speakers may hear as wrong.
- The record holds it for daughters too, though very rarely.
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What they receive
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Ricardo
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Ricardos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Ricardo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ricardo in 2025?
- Ricardo is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Ricardo with classmates?
- Ricardo 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
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ricardo? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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