Ronold
Masculine · “Ruler's counsel”
Ronold exchanges two letters of a Norse name that ruled the northern islands for four hundred years — a name carried by earls who answered to Norway while living off the coast of Scotland.
How old is the name Ronold?
Ronold first appears in US birth records in 1927 — 98 years ago. The typical Ronold alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 500 people named Ronold are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ronold most popular?
Ronold peaked in 1941, reaching #1152 nationally. See the whole 1941 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rognvaldr to Ronold
The story of Ronold
The earldom of Orkney was held by a line of men called Rognvald and Thorfinn, and its peculiarity was constitutional: the earls held the islands from the king of Norway, not the king of Scots, while also holding land in Scotland from the Scottish crown — which made them subjects of two kingdoms at once and gave them several centuries of profitable ambiguity. The islands did not become Scottish until the fifteenth century, and then only as security against an unpaid dowry that was never settled. The name went south with the Norse settlements, was taken up in Scotland, and became one of the standard Scottish men's names of the modern period.
Meaning
Ruler's counsel
The Norse compound joins a word about counsel or judgment to one about power. The exchanged letters in this spelling are both unstressed and change nothing about the sound or the sense.
How the name formed
- Rognvaldr
- Ronald
- Ronold
Related forms: Ragnvald · Raghnall
Pronouncing Ronold
RON-uld
Two syllables, stress at the front. The exchanged letters are inaudible.
Nicknames for Ronold
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
- 1927
- Most boys named
- 195035 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1152reached in 1941
- Change vs 1974
- +40.0%7 in 1975, 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.
Ronold in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ragnvald in Norwegian — same name
- Raghnall in Scottish Gaelic — same name
Ronolds among us
people named Ronold 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
Ronold 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 the name has a genuine and interesting history.
- It shortens cleanly to a short form that has been in use for a century.
- It is read correctly on sight.
- Ronald is the standard spelling and his will be corrected to it on every form.
- The exchanged letters look like a slip and people will assume one.
- The name is closely tied to an older American generation.
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Ronold
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Ronolds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Ronold are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ronold in 2025?
- Ronold is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Ronold with classmates?
- Ronold will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Robert#92 · Richard#234 · Ronald#637 · Ryan#99 · Raymond#394 · Roger#832 · Ralph#1046 · Roy#525
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ronold? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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