Reinhold
A masculine German name meaning "counsel" or "advice".
Name Census estimates that about 226 living Americans carry the first name Reinhold. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Reinhold today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Reinhold births was 1917 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Reinhold. 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 Reinhold is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Reinholds were born before 1960.
People living today
226
~ 1 in 1,516,612 Americans
Peak year
1917
72 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1988 SSA rank
#6,284
Tracked since 1882
Popularity
Reinhold: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Reinhold from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 447 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
Reinhold 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 Reinhold during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Reinholds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. North Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois recorded the most babies named Reinhold, while Texas, Kansas, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 37 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Reinhold
Reinhold is a masculine given name of German origin, derived from the Old German compound name "Ragin-hald" or "Ragin-wald." This name dates back to the early medieval period, with roots in the Germanic languages. The first part, "Ragin," means counsel or advice, while the second part, "hald" or "wald," signifies ruler or power. Together, the name can be interpreted as something along the lines of "mighty counselor" or "one who rules with wise counsel."
The earliest recorded instances of the name Reinhold can be traced back to the 8th and 9th centuries in various Germanic regions. It was a popular name among the nobility and upper classes during the Middle Ages. One notable historical figure bearing this name was Reinhold of Burgundy, a 10th-century count and nobleman who played a significant role in the political affairs of the Holy Roman Empire.
In religious contexts, the name Reinhold has been associated with several notable figures. One example is Saint Reinhold, a 13th-century bishop of Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia), who was known for his efforts in spreading Christianity in the region. Another notable bearer of the name was Reinhold Niebuhr, an influential American theologian and ethicist of the 20th century, who made significant contributions to Christian realism and political philosophy.
Throughout history, there have been several prominent individuals named Reinhold. One of the earliest recorded was Reinhold of Esslingen, a 12th-century German chronicler and historian who documented the exploits of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Another notable figure was Reinhold Voll, a 16th-century German painter and engraver known for his religious and mythological works.
In the realm of science and philosophy, Reinhold Erasmus Reinhold (1753-1812) was a German philosopher and mathematician who made important contributions to the field of Kantian philosophy. Reinhold Begas (1831-1911) was a renowned German sculptor and painter, known for his monumental public works and portraits.
More recently, Reinhold Messner (born 1944) is an Italian mountaineer and explorer, renowned for being the first person to climb all fourteen eight-thousander peaks in the world without supplemental oxygen. Reinhold Matay (1936-2022) was a German actor and voice actor, best known for dubbing the voice of Sean Connery's James Bond in various films.
People
Reinhold + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Reinhold 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
Reinhold: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Reinhold?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 226 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Reinhold 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 1,516,612 US residents.
Is Reinhold a common name?
We classify Reinhold as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,431 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Reinhold most popular?
The single biggest year for Reinhold was 1917, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Reinhold is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Reinhold a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Reinhold 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.