Raynald
Raynald is a masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "counsel" or "counselor".
Name Census estimates that about 66 living Americans carry the first name Raynald. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Raynald today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raynald births was 1940 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raynald. 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 Raynald. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
66
~ 1 in 5,193,248 Americans
Peak year
1940
8 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1994 SSA rank
#9,928
Tracked since 1914
Census
Raynald in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 250 people with the first name Raynald, which placed it at #33,212 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
#33,212
National first-name rank
People counted
250
250 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raynald
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raynald is Black at 46.8%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.4%). 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 Raynald 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 Raynald at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.8% · 117
- White32.4% · 81
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.4% · 36
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Raynald: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raynald from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 23 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Raynald remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Raynald 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 Raynald 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 Raynald
The name Raynald finds its roots in the Germanic languages, originating from the Old German words "ragin" meaning "counsel" and "wald" meaning "rule". It was a popular name in the Middle Ages, particularly in regions of present-day France and Germany.
One of the earliest historical references to the name Raynald can be found in the 9th century, when it was mentioned in the Frankish Chronicles. The name gained prominence during the Crusades, with several notable figures bearing it.
Raynald of Châtillon (c. 1125 – 1187) was a French nobleman who became Prince of Antioch and played a significant role in the Crusades. His actions were seen as a provocation by Saladin, leading to the Battle of Hattin in 1187, which marked a turning point in the conflict.
Another notable figure was Raynald III of Gelderland (c. 1333 – 1371), a Duke of Gelderland and Count of Zutphen in the 14th century. He was known for his military campaigns against neighboring regions and his involvement in the Hook and Cod Wars.
In the 12th century, Raynald of Dassel (c. 1115 – 1167) was a German clergyman and statesman who served as the Archbishop of Cologne. He played a significant role in the political affairs of the Holy Roman Empire during his time.
The name also appears in literature, such as the character Raynald in the 16th-century play "The Spanish Tragedy" by Thomas Kyd. Additionally, Raynald was the name of one of the knights in the 14th-century poem "The Faerie Queene" by Edmund Spenser.
Throughout history, other notable individuals who bore the name Raynald include Raynald de Dreux (c. 1102 – 1124), a French nobleman and Count of Amiens, and Raynald of Cologne (c. 1262 – 1314), a German theologian and scholastic philosopher.
People
Raynald + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raynald 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
Raynald: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raynald?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 66 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raynald 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 5,193,248 US residents.
Is Raynald a common name?
We classify Raynald as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 99 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raynald most popular?
The single biggest year for Raynald was 1940, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raynald is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Raynald in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 250 people with the name Raynald, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,212 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 Raynald 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 Raynald?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raynald appears almost entirely male. Of the 254 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Raynald?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raynald is Black at 46.8%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.4%). 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 Raynald most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Raynald in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.8% (117 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 Raynald in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Raynald a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Raynald in the SSA data are male. 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 Raynald still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Raynald 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 Raynald 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 are called Raynald?
Find out how many people have the name Raynald on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.