Renae
A feminine name of French and German origin meaning "born again".
Name Census estimates that about 12,127 living Americans carry the first name Renae. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Renae today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Renae births was 1970 (386 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Renae. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Renae with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 28,264 Americans
Peak year
1970
386 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1985 SSA rank
#3,677
Tracked since 1925
Census
Renae in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,021 people with the first name Renae, which placed it at #2,083 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
#2,083
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,021 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Renae
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renae is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Renae 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 Renae at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.9% · 10,143
- Black or African American11.4% · 1,485
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 682
- Two or more races3.1% · 400
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 163
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 148
Gender
Gender distribution for Renae
Out of the 14,125 babies given the name Renae since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Renae as a male name
- Ranked #7,356 in 1985
- 5 male births in 1985
- Peak: 1963 (6 births)
Renae as a female name
- Ranked #3,677 in 2024
- 42 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (386 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renae appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,024 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Renae: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Renae from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 3,309 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
Renae 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 Renae during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Renaes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Michigan recorded the most babies named Renae, while District of Columbia, Arkansas, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 244 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Renae
The name Renae is a feminine given name of French origin, derived from the Old French name Renaude or Reinaude. It is a combination of the Germanic elements "ragin" meaning "counsel" and "wald" meaning "rule." The name can be traced back to the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century.
Renae is a variant spelling of the name Renée, which was originally a French masculine name before becoming feminized. The name gained popularity in France during the Renaissance period, particularly among the nobility and upper classes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Renae can be found in the records of the French city of Rouen, where a woman named Renae de Boissy was mentioned in a document dated 1278. Another notable historical figure who bore this name was Renae de Montferrat, a 13th-century French noblewoman and lady-in-waiting to Queen Blanche of Castile.
In the 16th century, a French poet and playwright named Renae Bellay lived from 1528 to 1560. She was known for her contributions to the literature of the French Renaissance. Another prominent figure was Renae Descartes, a 17th-century French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who lived from 1596 to 1650. He is often regarded as the father of modern philosophy and is best known for the famous quote "I think, therefore I am."
In the 19th century, Renae Vivien, a French poet and writer, lived from 1877 to 1909. She was part of the Parisian literary circle and was known for her contributions to the Symbolist movement in poetry.
While the name Renae has French roots, it has also been adopted and used in other cultures and languages over time. It has been particularly popular in English-speaking countries, where it is often spelled as Renae or Renée.
People
Renae + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Renae 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
Renae: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Renae?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,127 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Renae 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 28,264 US residents.
Is Renae a common name?
We classify Renae as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,125 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Renae most popular?
The single biggest year for Renae was 1970, when 386 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Renae is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Renae in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,021 people with the name Renae, or 4.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,083 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 Renae 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 Renae?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renae appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,024 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Renae?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renae is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Renae most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Renae in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.9% (10,143 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 Renae in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Renae a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Renae 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 Renae still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Renae 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 Renae 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 Renae?
You can see how many people share the name Renae on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.