Renny
A feminine diminutive of the Hebrew name Renata meaning "reborn".
Name Census estimates that about 661 living Americans carry the first name Renny. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Renny today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Renny births was 2001 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Renny. 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
661
~ 1 in 518,539 Americans
Peak year
2001
16 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,079
Tracked since 1936
Gender
Gender distribution for Renny
Renny leans heavily male at 84.8% of total registrations, but 117 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Renny as a male name
- Ranked #13,751 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1976 (15 births)
Renny as a female name
- Ranked #10,079 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (10 births)
Popularity
Renny: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Renny from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 109 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Renny remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Renny 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 Renny during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rennys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Renny
The name Renny is believed to have its origins in the French language, where it was derived from the name Rene. Rene, in turn, is thought to have originated from the Germanic name Reinold, which is composed of the elements "ragin" meaning "counsel" and "wald" meaning "rule."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Rene can be found in the 10th century, when it was borne by Rene I, Duke of Anjou, who lived from 1409 to 1480. Rene was a prominent figure during the Renaissance period and was known for his patronage of the arts and literature.
The name Renny is also associated with Renny Harlin, a Finnish film director and producer known for his work on action movies such as Die Hard 2 (1990), Cliffhanger (1993), and Deep Blue Sea (1999). Harlin was born in 1959 and has had a successful career in Hollywood.
Another notable individual with the name Renny is Renny Harlin's ex-wife, actress Geena Davis, who was born in 1956. Davis is known for her roles in films such as Thelma & Louise (1991), A League of Their Own (1992), and The Accidental Tourist (1988), for which she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In literature, the name Renny appears in the novel "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson, published in 1959. In the book, Renny is a character who joins a group of people investigating a haunted house.
Renny Wilson was an American jazz pianist and composer who lived from 1920 to 1998. He was known for his work with the Stan Kenton Orchestra and his contributions to the West Coast jazz scene.
While the name Renny may have its origins in French and Germanic languages, it has been adopted and used across various cultures and regions, making it a unique and diverse name with a rich history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Renny
People
Renny + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Renny 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
Renny: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Renny?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 661 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Renny 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 518,539 US residents.
Is Renny a common name?
We classify Renny as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 771 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Renny most popular?
The single biggest year for Renny was 2001, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Renny is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Renny a male name?
Yes, 84.8% of people registered as Renny 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.