Ronald
The story
Ronald began at sea. Norse settlers carried Rögnvaldr, from regin, counsel, and valdr, ruler, into Scotland, where Gaelic reshaped it as Raghnall and Scots as Ronald; the same old name took other roads to become Reginald, Rinaldo, and Ronaldo. For centuries it remained a Scottish signature, then spread through the wider English-speaking world in the twentieth century. Its American arc is easy to read: climbing through the 1920s and 30s, peaking in the 1940s, then a long, unhurried descent. Ronald Reagan wore the name across both halves of that arc, a film actor in its peak decade and president four decades later, when the curve had long been easing and did not turn. A tide name, in the end: it came in on one, and it went out on one.
Ronald around the world
One shared root links 6 names across 3 languages.
Shared root: from Germanic Raginwald, ragin "counsel" + wald "rule", reaching English as Norman Reynold and, through Norse Rognvaldr, Scottish Ronald
The constellation
More branches
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ronald peaked in the 1940s.
Popularity in Brazil
31,393 people · the #790 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 6,452 · median age 21
Among people named Ronald living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 823 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Ronald
People given the name Ronald in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 1979. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Ronald deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ronald truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ronald fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Ronald fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Ronald to your family’s tree →