Ronald
Ronald is ranked 575th among boys in 2024 (495 births). Its best rank was 9th, in 1941–1943.
- Rank in 2024
- #575up 37 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 4950.03% of boys
- Peak year
- 194734,900 births
- Best rank
- #9first in 1941
- Since 1883
- 1,085,633people given the name
The story in the numbers
1,081,788 boys have been named Ronald in the United States since 1883, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1947, with 34,900 births — 1.9% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 495 births in 2024, against 34,900 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1953, and the 1940s alone account for 26%. It has spent 141 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 65 of them in the top 100 and 10 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 3,845 girls have also been given it, 0.35% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Ronald | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 63 | |
| 1890s | 209 | |
| 1900s | 616 | |
| 1910s | 5,301 | |
| 1920s | 20,895 | |
| 1930s | 140,332 | |
| 1940s | 282,478 | |
| 1950s | 271,146 | |
| 1960s | 182,176 | |
| 1970s | 81,732 | |
| 1980s | 46,670 | |
| 1990s | 26,682 | |
| 2000s | 13,645 | |
| 2010s | 7,353 | |
| 2020s | 2,490 |
In 1947, its biggest year
Ronald was the 11th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1947 were James, Robert, John, William and Richard. See all of 1947.
Names that rose and fell with Ronald
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Jerrypeak 1947
- Jimmypeak 1947
- Larypeak 1946
- Rogerpeak 1953
- Jeraldpeak 1942
- Tommypeak 1947
- Rodgerpeak 1949
- Gaylandpeak 1950
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.