Rene
A French masculine name meaning "reborn" or "born again".
Name Census estimates that about 58,888 living Americans carry the first name Rene. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 69.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Rene today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rene births was 1962 (1,648 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rene. 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 Rene with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
59K
~ 1 in 5,820 Americans
Peak year
1962
1,648 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2024 SSA rank
#990
Tracked since 1880
Census
Rene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 83,545 people with the first name Rene, which placed it at #632 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
#632
National first-name rank
People counted
84K
83,545 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
27.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
67.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rene is Hispanic at 67.6%. The next largest groups are White (23.7%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Rene 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 Rene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino67.6% · 56,497
- White23.7% · 19,763
- Black or African American4.6% · 3,809
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 2,112
- Two or more races1.3% · 1,051
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 313
Gender
Gender distribution for Rene
Rene is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 72,568 total registrations, 50,740 (69.9%) were male and 21,828 (30.1%) were female.
Rene as a male name
- Ranked #990 in 2024
- 227 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (869 births)
Rene as a female name
- Ranked #6,564 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1962 (916 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rene on both sides of the split. Of the 83,545 people counted with this name, 65,098 were male (77.9%) and 18,447 were female (22.1%).
Popularity
Rene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rene from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 14,674 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
Rene 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 Rene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Renes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Rene, while Alaska, North Dakota, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,291 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rene
The name Rene originates from the French language, deriving from the Germanic name Reinhold or Reginold. It has been in use since the Middle Ages, with its roots tracing back to the 8th century. The name is composed of the Germanic elements "ragin" meaning "counsel" and "wald" meaning "ruler."
In its earliest form, Rene was spelled as Reinhold or Reginold. It gained popularity in France during the 12th century and gradually evolved into the modern spelling of Rene. The name was particularly favored by French nobility and was often given to members of the aristocracy.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rene appears in the 11th century, with Rene d'Anjou (1409-1480), a prominent French prince and Duke of Anjou. He was known for his patronage of the arts and was a celebrated poet and playwright during the Renaissance era.
Another notable figure bearing the name Rene was Rene Descartes (1596-1650), a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He is widely regarded as the father of modern philosophy and is famous for his philosophical statement, "I think, therefore I am" (Cogito, ergo sum).
In the realm of literature, Rene was the name of the protagonist in the novel "René" by François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), a renowned French writer and diplomat. The novel explored themes of melancholy and alienation, and its impact on the Romantic movement was significant.
One of the most celebrated artists with the name Rene was Rene Magritte (1898-1967), a Belgian surrealist painter known for his thought-provoking and enigmatic works, such as "The Treachery of Images" and "The Son of Man."
In the realm of music, Rene Jacobs (born 1946) is a renowned Belgian conductor and countertenor, renowned for his interpretations of Baroque and early Classical repertoire.
While the name Rene has been more commonly used in French-speaking countries, it has also been adopted in various cultures around the world, with its meaning and associations reflecting the diverse backgrounds of those who bear it.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rene
People
Rene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rene 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
Rene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 58,888 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rene 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 5,820 US residents.
Is Rene a common name?
We classify Rene as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 72,568 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rene most popular?
The single biggest year for Rene was 1962, when 1,648 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rene is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 83,545 people with the name Rene, or 27.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #632 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 Rene 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 Rene?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rene on both sides of the split. Of the 83,545 people counted with this name, 65,098 were male (77.9%) and 18,447 were female (22.1%). 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 Rene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rene is Hispanic at 67.6%. The next largest groups are White (23.7%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Rene most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Rene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.6% (56,497 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 Rene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rene a male name?
Yes, 69.9% of people registered as Rene 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 Rene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rene 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 Rene 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 Americans are named Rene?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.