Ranette
A French feminine name meaning "little frog".
Name Census estimates that about 87 living Americans carry the first name Ranette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ranette today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ranette births was 1960 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ranette. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ranette. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
87
~ 1 in 3,939,705 Americans
Peak year
1960
12 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1982 SSA rank
#11,810
Tracked since 1953
Census
Ranette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 149 people with the first name Ranette, which placed it at #45,514 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#45,514
National first-name rank
People counted
149
149 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ranette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ranette is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ranette described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ranette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.7% · 80
- Black or African American26.2% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.1% · 12
- Two or more races6.0% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 2
Popularity
Ranette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ranette from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 56 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ranette by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ranette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ranette
The name Ranette is believed to have originated from the French language, although its exact origins and meaning are unclear. Some sources suggest that it may be a diminutive form of the name Reine, which means "queen" in French. Others speculate that it could be derived from the Old French name Rainette, which was a pet form of the name Reine.
In the Middle Ages, the name Ranette was occasionally found in historical records and documents from various regions of France. However, it was not a particularly common name during that time period. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name dates back to the 14th century, when a woman named Ranette de Montfort was mentioned in a French chronicle from the year 1345.
Throughout the centuries, there have been a few notable individuals who bore the name Ranette. In the 16th century, Ranette de Longueville (1530-1574) was a French noblewoman and the daughter of François d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville. She was known for her involvement in the French Wars of Religion and her support for the Protestant cause.
Another historical figure with the name Ranette was Ranette de Baumont (1615-1688), a French courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne of Austria. She was known for her wit and intelligence, and was a prominent figure in the French court during the reign of Louis XIV.
In the 18th century, Ranette de La Tour du Pin (1770-1853) was a French aristocrat and memoirist who wrote about her experiences during the French Revolution. Her memoirs, published in the early 19th century, provided valuable insights into the lives of the French nobility during that tumultuous period.
One of the more recent historical figures with the name Ranette was Ranette Tolentino (1915-2002), a Filipino writer and journalist who was known for her novels and short stories. She was a recipient of the Republic Cultural Heritage Award, one of the highest honors bestowed upon Filipino artists and writers.
Despite its relatively low prevalence throughout history, the name Ranette has persisted as a unique and distinctive name, particularly in certain regions of France and other French-speaking areas. Its origins and meaning may be shrouded in mystery, but it has left a small yet notable mark on the historical record.
People
Ranette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ranette as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ranette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ranette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 87 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ranette going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,939,705 US residents.
Is Ranette a common name?
We classify Ranette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 104 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ranette most popular?
The single biggest year for Ranette was 1960, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ranette is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ranette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 149 people with the name Ranette, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,514 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ranette in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ranette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ranette appears almost entirely female. Of the 150 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ranette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ranette is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ranette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ranette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.7% (80 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ranette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ranette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ranette in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ranette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ranette in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ranette can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Ranette?
See how many people share the name Ranette on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.