Reinhard
A masculine German name meaning "brave counsel" or "wise ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 150 living Americans carry the first name Reinhard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Reinhard today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Reinhard births was 1916 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Reinhard. 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
- • The typical person named Reinhard is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Reinhards were born before 1970.
People living today
150
~ 1 in 2,285,029 Americans
Peak year
1916
17 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1998 SSA rank
#10,948
Tracked since 1895
Popularity
Reinhard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Reinhard from the 1890s through to the 1990s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 101 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Reinhard 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 Reinhard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Reinhards live
Origin
Meaning and history of Reinhard
The given name Reinhard has its origins in the Germanic languages and cultures of medieval Europe. It is a compound name derived from the Old German words "ragin" meaning "counsel" and "hart" meaning "brave" or "hardy". The name translates roughly to "brave counsel" or "hardy adviser".
Reinhard was particularly common in the areas of modern-day Germany, Austria, and parts of Switzerland during the Middle Ages. Variations in spelling included Reinhart, Reinhardus, and Reinhard. The name shares linguistic roots with the Frankish name Reginhard and the Old Norse name Reginhardr.
One of the earliest known references to the name Reinhard dates back to the 8th century in the Codex Sangallensis, a Latin manuscript from the monastery of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The text mentions a monk named Reinhard who was a scribe and copyist.
In the 11th century, the name appears in the historical records of the Holy Roman Empire. Reinhard von Sponheim (c. 1010 - 1089) was a prominent German nobleman and Count Palatine of the Rhine region. He played a significant role in the Investiture Controversy between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor.
Another notable figure was Reinhard of Halberstadt (c. 1060 - 1125), a German bishop and chronicler who wrote an important historical text known as the "Annals of Reinhard of Halberstadt".
During the Renaissance period, Reinhard Lorichius (1500 - 1564) was a German humanist scholar, poet, and teacher who made contributions to the study of classical literature.
In the 17th century, Reinhard Zesen (1619 - 1689) was a German author and linguist who advocated for reforms to the German language and orthography.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Reinhard Kekulé (1839 - 1911) was a German chemist who is best known for determining the ring structure of benzene, a crucial breakthrough in organic chemistry.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals named Reinhard throughout history, spanning various fields such as religion, politics, literature, and science.
People
Reinhard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Reinhard 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
Reinhard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Reinhard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 150 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Reinhard 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 2,285,029 US residents.
Is Reinhard a common name?
We classify Reinhard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 435 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Reinhard most popular?
The single biggest year for Reinhard was 1916, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Reinhard is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Reinhard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Reinhard 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.
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.