Renelda
A feminine given name of uncertain origin, potentially relating to a variant of Renata or Reinhild.
Name Census estimates that about 113 living Americans carry the first name Renelda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Renelda today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Renelda births was 1960 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Renelda. 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
113
~ 1 in 3,033,224 Americans
Peak year
1960
12 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1981 SSA rank
#11,689
Tracked since 1919
Census
Renelda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 196 people with the first name Renelda, which placed it at #38,869 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
#38,869
National first-name rank
People counted
196
196 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
40.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Renelda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renelda is Black at 40.3%. The next largest groups are White (35.2%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (10.2%). 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 Renelda 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 Renelda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American40.3% · 79
- White35.2% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native10.2% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.6% · 13
- Two or more races1.0% · 2
Popularity
Renelda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Renelda from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 57 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
Renelda 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 Renelda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Renelda
The name Renelda is of Germanic origin, with roots dating back to the early medieval period. The name likely derives from the Old German words "ragin" meaning "counsel" and "hildi" meaning "battle." Combined, these elements suggest a meaning of "wise battle counselor" or "one who provides wise counsel in battle."
The earliest recorded instances of the name Renelda can be found in historical records from the 8th and 9th centuries, particularly in regions of present-day Germany and the Low Countries. During this era, the name was used by various Germanic tribes and kingdoms, indicating its widespread popularity.
One of the earliest notable individuals bearing the name Renelda was a Frankish noblewoman who lived in the late 8th century. She was the daughter of Count Hildebrand of Burgundy and is mentioned in several chronicles from the Carolingian period, though little is known about her life beyond her lineage.
In the 11th century, a Renelda von Rheinfelden was recorded as the wife of Duke Rudolf of Swabia, a claimant to the Holy Roman Empire during the Great Saxon Revolt of 1077-1088. Their marriage helped solidify political alliances during this turbulent period of German history.
Another historically significant figure bearing the name was Renelda of Cleves, who lived in the late 15th century. She was a member of the noble House of Cleves and served as the Abbess of the prestigious Stift Essen, a renowned collegiate foundation in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Moving into the 16th century, Renelda Möhring was a German Renaissance scholar and humanist from Leipzig. Born in 1492, she was known for her expertise in classical languages and her contributions to the intellectual circles of the era.
Finally, in the 17th century, Renelda van Raephorst was a Dutch artist renowned for her still-life paintings. Born in 1610 in Haarlem, she became a member of the prestigious Haarlem Guild of St. Luke and her works are held in various museums and private collections across Europe.
While the name Renelda has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, its rich history and Germanic roots underscore its significance in the cultural heritage of Central and Western Europe, particularly during the medieval and Renaissance periods.
People
Renelda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Renelda 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
Renelda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Renelda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 113 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Renelda 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 3,033,224 US residents.
Is Renelda a common name?
We classify Renelda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 188 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Renelda most popular?
The single biggest year for Renelda was 1960, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Renelda is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Renelda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 196 people with the name Renelda, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,869 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 Renelda 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 Renelda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renelda leans strongly female. 193 people counted with this name were female (96.5%), compared with 7 male bearers (3.5%). 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 Renelda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renelda is Black at 40.3%. The next largest groups are White (35.2%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (10.2%). 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 Renelda most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Renelda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.3% (79 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 Renelda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Renelda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Renelda 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 Renelda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Renelda 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 Renelda 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 Renelda?
Find out how many people have the name Renelda on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.