Ronal
Masculine · “Ruler by divine counsel”
Ronal is Ronald with the final consonant dropped, and Ronald is a Norse name that came to Scotland with the Vikings: Rögnvaldr, the counsel of the gods joined to a ruler, which is about as grand a compound as Norse naming produced.
How old is the name Ronal?
Ronal first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Ronal alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 1,100 people named Ronal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ronal most popular?
Ronal peaked in 1939, reaching #776 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 4,832 places below that high. See the whole 1939 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rögnvaldr to Ronal
The story of Ronal
Rögnvaldr was a name of the Norse earls of Orkney and came into Scottish use with them, becoming Raghnall in Gaelic and Ronald in Scots. It stayed Scottish for centuries and became widely popular in America in the twentieth century, reaching the top twenty in the 1940s. Ronal appears as a variant in the same period, peaking in 1939, and it is also used in Latin America, where a final d after n is regularly softened in speech and sometimes dropped in writing.
Meaning
Ruler by divine counsel
From Old Norse Rögnvaldr, from regin, the gods or divine powers, and valdr, a ruler. The reading is settled and both elements are transparent. Scottish Gaelic took it as Raghnall, and English as Ronald and Ranald; the same Norse name gives the Norman Reynold and the surname Reynolds. Ronal is a variant with the d dropped, also used in Spanish-speaking countries.
How the name formed
- Rögnvaldr
- Raghnall
- Ronald
- Ronal
Related forms: Rögnvaldr · Raghnall · Ronald · Ronal
Pronouncing Ronal
ROH-nul
Two syllables, stress on the first. Spanish-speaking bearers often say ro-NAL with the weight at the back.
Nicknames for Ronal
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
- 1918
- Most boys named
- 193961 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #776reached in 1939
- Change vs 2023
- +60.0%16 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.
Ronal in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rögnvaldr in Old Norse — related form
- Raghnall in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Ronald in English — spelling variant
- Ronal in Spanish — same name
Ronals among us
people named Ronal are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Ronal
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 Ezell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ronal's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ezell climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ezell's path sketches the road Ronal is walking now.
Ronal 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
Ronal beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ronal in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Norse meaning is settled and unusually grand.
- Ron and Ronnie are both instantly available short forms.
- Everyone can say it after one hearing.
- Ronald is the standard spelling and will be written for it.
- The stress differs between English and Spanish speakers.
- Ronald is strongly dated to the mid-twentieth century in America.
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Ronal
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ronals are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Ronal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ronal in 2025?
- Ronal ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ronal?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Ronal — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ronal with classmates?
- Ronal will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ronal
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ronal? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ronal and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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