Recardo
A name potentially derived from the Spanish name Ricardo, meaning "brave power" or "powerful ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 620 living Americans carry the first name Recardo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Recardo today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Recardo births was 1979 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Recardo. 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.
People living today
620
~ 1 in 552,830 Americans
Peak year
1979
25 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,746
Tracked since 1943
Census
Recardo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 888 people with the first name Recardo, which placed it at #13,554 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
#13,554
National first-name rank
People counted
888
888 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
47.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Recardo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Recardo is Hispanic at 47.9%. The next largest groups are Black (44.6%) and White (3.7%). 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 Recardo 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 Recardo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino47.9% · 425
- Black or African American44.6% · 396
- White3.7% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 16
- Two or more races1.5% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
Popularity
Recardo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Recardo from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 159 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Recardo 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 Recardo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Recardos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Recardo
The given name Recardo is believed to have originated from the Spanish language, derived from the Germanic name Ricardo, which itself is a compound of the Germanic elements ric (meaning "ruler" or "power") and hard (meaning "brave" or "hardy"). It is a variant spelling of the more common name Ricardo.
The name Ricardo gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in Spain and other parts of the Iberian Peninsula. It was often associated with nobility and power, reflecting the meaning of its root elements. The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 9th century, when it was borne by several prominent figures in the region.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Recared I, a Visigothic King of Hispania (modern-day Spain and Portugal) who ruled from 586 to 601 AD. He is credited with converting the Visigothic Kingdom to Catholicism and establishing religious unity in the region.
Another historical figure with the name Recardo was Recared II, a Visigothic King of Hispania who reigned from 621 to 622 AD. His brief reign was marked by conflicts with the Byzantine Empire and internal struggles within the kingdom.
In the 11th century, a prominent figure named Recardo Gutiérrez was a powerful nobleman and military commander who played a significant role in the Reconquista, the centuries-long campaign by Christian kingdoms to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Moorish rule.
During the Renaissance period, Recardo di Montelupo (1512-1572) was an Italian sculptor and architect who worked in Florence and is known for his contributions to the Palazzo Vecchio and other notable buildings in the city.
Another notable bearer of the name was Recardo Álvarez (1862-1929), a Spanish politician and journalist who served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1924 during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship.
While the name Recardo is not as common as its more widely used variant Ricardo, it has been borne by several individuals throughout history, often associated with positions of power, nobility, and cultural significance, reflecting the meaning of its Germanic roots.
People
Recardo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Recardo 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
Recardo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Recardo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 620 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Recardo 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 552,830 US residents.
Is Recardo a common name?
We classify Recardo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 670 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Recardo most popular?
The single biggest year for Recardo was 1979, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Recardo is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Recardo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 888 people with the name Recardo, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,554 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 Recardo 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 Recardo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Recardo leans strongly male. 885 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 9 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Recardo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Recardo is Hispanic at 47.9%. The next largest groups are Black (44.6%) and White (3.7%). 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 Recardo most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Recardo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.9% (425 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 Recardo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Recardo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Recardo 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 Recardo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Recardo 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 Recardo 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 Recardo?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.