Richard
Feminine · “strong ruler”
Richard is given to boys far more often — 2,577,552 boys against 9,530 girls since 1880. See Richard as a boy name
Richard is a hard ruler, and both halves say so. The Germanic compound joins ric, power or rule, with hard, meaning brave or severe in the older sense of the word — not cruel, but unyielding. The Normans brought it to England, three English kings carried it, and it has been in continuous use ever since without a single quiet century.
How old is the name Richard?
Richard first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Richard alive today was born around 1956, making them about 69 years old. About 6,100 people named Richard are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Richard most popular?
Richard peaked in 1929, reaching #476 nationally. See the whole 1929 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ricohard to Richard
The story of Richard
Three kings of England were called Richard and no two of them are remembered alike: the first spent almost his whole reign abroad on crusade and became a legend anyway, the second was deposed, and the third has been argued about for five centuries and was found under a car park. The name survived all of it. What is stranger is what English did to the short form: medieval speakers made pet names by rhyming, so Richard gave Rick, Rick gave Dick, and Robert gave Rob, then Bob, by exactly the same move. That is why the commonest short form of this name shares no sound with it at all.
Meaning
strong ruler
Germanic ric means rule or power — the same element that ends Frederick and Roderick and stands behind the German Reich — and hard means hardy, firm or brave. Compound names were assembled from prestigious elements rather than for a combined sense, but this pair happens to combine well, which is part of why it lasted. The derivation is not disputed anywhere. The English word rich comes from the same ric, by way of the idea that power and wealth are the same thing.
How the name formed
- Ricohard
- Richart
- Richard
Related forms: Richard · Richard · Riccardo · Ricardo · Ryszard · Richárd
Pronouncing Richard
RICH-urd
RICH-urd, two syllables, stress at the front, the second vowel reduced. French says ree-SHAR with the weight at the back and no final d. Spanish and Italian move the stress to the middle. The English reading has been stable for centuries.
Nicknames for Richard
High
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
- 1886
- Most girls named
- 1929200 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #476reached in 1929
- Change vs 2010
- +20.0%6 in 2022, from 5
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.
Richard in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Richard in French — same name
- Richard in German — same name
- Riccardo in Italian — same name
- Ricardo in Spanish — same name
- Ryszard in Polish — same name
- Richárd in Hungarian — same name
Richards among us
people named Richard 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
Richard 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 has been in continuous English use for nine hundred years and belongs to no single period.
- Rick and Rich are both complete working names, so the short form does not need the long one behind it.
- Every major European language has a version, so it crosses a border without translation.
- The meaning is clear, unpretentious and easy to say in three words.
- The traditional short form Dick has acquired a second meaning in English that has effectively retired it, and a child will learn this early.
- It is very strongly represented among older generations in America, and it reads that way to many people.
- A great many people already carry it, so a Richard will rarely be the only one in a workplace.
- This spelling is recorded for girls too, though so rarely that a girl named Richard will be read as a boy on every form; Ricarda carries the same root without that.
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What they receive
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Richard
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Richards are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,100 people named Richard are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Richard in 2025?
- Richard is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Richard with classmates?
- Richard 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 Richard? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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