Ricardo

What Ricardo means

Same root as Richard, meaning “king, ruler + hard, brave”

Doublet of Richard || From Middle English Rycharde, from Old French Richard, from Medieval Latin Richardus, Ricohardus, from Frankish *Rīkahard, from Proto-Germanic *Rīkaharduz, a construction of *rīks (“king, ruler”) +‎ *harduz (“hard, brave”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Ricardo” (revision 93741512) and “Richard” (revision 94542998), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ricardo?

US: Falling: down from #277 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #821 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1998, when 3,044 boys got the name (#125 that year). First in the US records in 1888.

How common

• About 1 in 2,051 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 13,597 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NM (2.0 per 1,000 boys), AZ (1.28 per 1,000 boys), TX (1.27 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Ricardo is #380 in the US and #1359 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Ricardo were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Ricardo

Boys

• Jose#95Same root as Joseph, meaning “(God) shall add”^*
• Raul#634Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2000, with 1,519 babies; 440 in 2025
• Ernesto#878Spanish form of Ernest, meaning “vigor, strife”^*
• Jorge#322Same root as George, meaning “farmer, earth worker”^*
• Francisco#322Same root as Francis, meaning “Frankish (man); a Frank”^*
• Manuel#371“pillar”^*

For a sister

• Alejandra#604Same root as Alexandra, meaning “to defend + man”^*
• Angelica#707Italian, meaning “angelic”^*
• Andrea#235Feminine form of Andreas, meaning “manly”^*
• Bianca#500Form of Blanche, meaning “white”^*
• Angel#546Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2002, with 3,100 babies; 551 in 2025
• Ana#245Editor’s note Down from #211 in 2015 to #245 in 2025 in the US

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Spanish & Italian, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ricardo’s. Rank is US 2025.