Ronald

What Ronald means

Means “advice + power”

English Robert Anglicized from Scottish Gaelic Raghnall, itself derived from Old Norse Rǫgnvaldr, from rǫgn (“advice”) + valdr (“power”), later partly merged with the Continental Germanic equivalent Reynold.

Source: Wiktionary, “Ronald” (revision 94543053), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ronald?

US: Falling: down from #434 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #765 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1943, when 29,239 boys got the name (#9 that year). First in the US records in 1883.

How common

• About 1 in 3,900 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 4,609 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 ID (0.7 per 1,000 boys), LA (0.58 per 1,000 boys), NJ (0.53 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Ronald is #637 in the US and #627 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 Ronald were boys.

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

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Nicknames

• Ron
• Ronnie
• Ronny

Listed on Wiktionary under “pet forms”.

If you like Ronald

Boys

• Frank#513Form of Francis, meaning “Frankish (man); a Frank”^*
• Robert#92“shining glory”^*
• Richard#234“king, ruler + hard, brave”^*
• Jeffrey#552Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #552 vs #1,705 in 2025
• Raymond#394“advice + protection”^*
• Dustin#728possibly “Thor s stone”^*

For a sister

• Linda#902“tender, soft”^*
• Alicia#460Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 7,820 babies; 672 in 2025
• Alison#476“of noble kind”^*
• Anne#619Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1959, with 5,745 babies; 472 in 2025
• Allison#103Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*
• Alyssa#453“a plant of the genus Alyssum”^*

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