Renelle
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly a blend of French elements.
Name Census estimates that about 369 living Americans carry the first name Renelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Renelle today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Renelle births was 1949 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Renelle. 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 Renelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
369
~ 1 in 928,874 Americans
Peak year
1949
15 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,104
Tracked since 1944
Census
Renelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 508 people with the first name Renelle, which placed it at #20,360 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
#20,360
National first-name rank
People counted
508
508 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Renelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renelle is White at 48.0%. The next largest groups are Black (33.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Renelle 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 Renelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.0% · 244
- Black or African American33.7% · 171
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 31
- Two or more races5.5% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 9
Popularity
Renelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Renelle from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 90 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
Renelle 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 Renelle 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 Renelle
The name Renelle is a French variant of the name Renée, which is the feminine form of the masculine name René. The name René has its origins in the Late Latin name Renatus, which means "reborn" or "born again." This name was particularly popular among early Christians, who saw it as a symbolic reference to being born again in Christ through baptism.
The name Renelle can be traced back to the medieval period in France, where it was used as a feminine form of René. It was particularly popular among the French nobility and aristocracy during this time. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Renelle was in the 13th century, when it was given to a daughter of a prominent noble family in the region of Normandy.
In the 15th century, there are records of a Renelle de Montfort, who was a noblewoman from the prominent Montfort family in France. She was born around 1420 and was known for her involvement in the political and religious conflicts of her time.
During the Renaissance period, the name Renelle gained further popularity among the French upper classes. One notable figure from this time was Renelle de Valois, who was born in 1548 and was a member of the French royal family. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her involvement in the cultural life of the French court.
In the 17th century, there was a Renelle de Bourbon, who was a member of the powerful Bourbon family and was born in 1635. She was a prominent figure at the court of Louis XIV and was known for her intelligence and wit.
Another notable figure from history who bore the name Renelle was Renelle de Montpensier, who was born in 1782 and was a French aristocrat and writer. She was known for her memoirs, which provided a valuable insight into the life of the French nobility during the turbulent period of the French Revolution.
While the name Renelle has its roots in French culture and history, it has also been used in other parts of the world, particularly among French-speaking communities. However, its use has been relatively limited compared to the more common names René and Renée.
People
Renelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Renelle 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
Renelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Renelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 369 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Renelle 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 928,874 US residents.
Is Renelle a common name?
We classify Renelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 430 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Renelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Renelle was 1949, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Renelle 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 Renelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 508 people with the name Renelle, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,360 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 Renelle 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 Renelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renelle leans strongly female. 499 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 13 male bearers (2.5%). 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 Renelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renelle is White at 48.0%. The next largest groups are Black (33.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Renelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Renelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.0% (244 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 Renelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Renelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Renelle 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 Renelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Renelle 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 Renelle 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 share the name Renelle?
You can see how many people share the name Renelle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.