NameCensus.
Rare

Ric

Powerful leader or ruler, derived from the Germanic name Richard.

Name Census estimates that about 1,058 living Americans carry the first name Ric. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ric today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ric births was 1958 (55 babies).

This page is the full Name Census profile for Ric. 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

1.1K

~ 1 in 323,964 Americans

Peak year

1958

55 babies that year

Average age

57

years old

2012 SSA rank

#9,518

Tracked since 1942

Popularity

Ric: popularity over time

The SSA tracks Ric from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 386 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.

Babies born per year

0142841551950196019701980199020002010

Decades

Ric 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 Ric during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.

DecadeMaleFemaleTotal
1940s1140114
1950s3860386
1960s3290329
1970s1510151
1980s1660166
1990s87087
2000s29029
2010s808

Geography

Where Rics live

The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Ohio, Michigan recorded the most babies named Ric, while Wisconsin, Washington, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.

Origin

Meaning and history of Ric

The name Ric has its roots in the Germanic language family, tracing back to the Old Norse word "ríkr" or the Old English word "rīce," both meaning "powerful" or "ruler." This name was prevalent across various Germanic tribes and cultures during the medieval period.

One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ric can be found in the Icelandic sagas, where it was used as a shortened form of names like Ríkarðr (Richard) or Hrólfr (Rodolf). These sagas, written in Old Norse, date back to the 13th and 14th centuries.

In England, the name Ric gained prominence after the Norman Conquest of 1066, as it was a common nickname for the French name Richard. Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199), was a famous English king who bore this name.

Another notable figure was Ric Petit, a 14th-century French architect who worked on the construction of the Louvre Palace in Paris. He was known for his innovative architectural techniques and designs.

During the Renaissance period, Ric became a popular name among Italian families. One example is Ric Lip, an Italian painter and architect from the 15th century, known for his frescoes in churches throughout Tuscany.

In the 16th century, Ric Bassee was a renowned Dutch cartographer and map-maker, whose detailed maps and atlases helped shape the understanding of geography during that era.

Moving to the 19th century, Ric Caldwell was an American pioneer and explorer who played a significant role in the westward expansion of the United States. He led expeditions and established settlements in the Rocky Mountain region.

While the name Ric has its origins in the Germanic language family, it has been adopted and used in various cultures throughout history, carrying with it a sense of power, authority, and leadership.

Notable bearers

Famous people named Ric

People

Ric + last name combinations

How many people share a full name with Ric 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

Ric: questions and answers

How many people in the U.S. are named Ric?

Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,058 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ric 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 323,964 US residents.

Is Ric a common name?

We classify Ric as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,270 babies have been registered with this name.

When was Ric most popular?

The single biggest year for Ric was 1958, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ric is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.

Is Ric a male name?

Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ric 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.

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