Ranelle
A feminine name of uncertain origin, perhaps a blend meaning "little frog".
Name Census estimates that about 349 living Americans carry the first name Ranelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ranelle today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ranelle births was 1949 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ranelle. 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
349
~ 1 in 982,104 Americans
Peak year
1949
27 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2023 SSA rank
#17,056
Tracked since 1941
Census
Ranelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 420 people with the first name Ranelle, which placed it at #23,335 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#23,335
National first-name rank
People counted
420
420 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ranelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ranelle is White at 63.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ranelle described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ranelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.8% · 268
- Black or African American16.9% · 71
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.1% · 30
- Two or more races4.5% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.6% · 15
Popularity
Ranelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ranelle from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 87 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ranelle 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 Ranelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ranelle
The name Ranelle has its origins in the French language and culture, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is a feminine form of the French name Ranulf, which is derived from the Old Norse name Randúlfr, meaning "shield wolf."
The earliest known usage of the name Ranelle can be traced back to the 12th century, where it was mentioned in historical records from the region of Normandy, France. During this period, it was a popular name among the nobility and upper classes of French society.
In the 13th century, the name Ranelle was also found in several religious texts and chronicles, often associated with women of noble birth or religious devotion. One notable mention was in the writings of the French philosopher and theologian, Thomas Aquinas, who referenced a nun named Ranelle in his commentaries on the Gospels.
As the name spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, it underwent various spelling variations, such as Ranelle, Ranelle, and Ranella. These variations were often influenced by local dialects and regional pronunciation differences.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Ranelle was a French noblewoman named Ranelle de Montfort, who lived in the late 12th century. She was known for her involvement in the crusades and her support for the Knights Templar.
In the 15th century, another notable figure was Ranelle de Boulogne, a French poet and writer who gained recognition for her romantic ballads and love poems. She was born in 1412 and is often cited as one of the earliest female poets of the Renaissance period.
During the Renaissance, the name Ranelle gained popularity among the artistic and intellectual circles of Italy and France. Ranelle Boccaccio, an Italian painter and fresco artist from the 16th century, was known for her vibrant depictions of religious scenes and portraits of noble families.
In the 17th century, Ranelle Descartes, a French philosopher and mathematician, made significant contributions to the field of geometry and analytic geometry. She was born in 1596 and is regarded as one of the key figures of the Scientific Revolution.
Another notable individual with the name Ranelle was Ranelle Durand, a French actress and playwright who lived in the 18th century. She was celebrated for her performances in comedic plays and her contributions to the development of French theater during the Enlightenment period.
People
Ranelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ranelle 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
Ranelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ranelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 349 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ranelle 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 982,104 US residents.
Is Ranelle a common name?
We classify Ranelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 419 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ranelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Ranelle was 1949, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ranelle is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ranelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 420 people with the name Ranelle, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,335 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ranelle in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ranelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ranelle leans strongly female. 416 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ranelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ranelle is White at 63.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ranelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ranelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.8% (268 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ranelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ranelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ranelle in the SSA data are female. 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.
Is Ranelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ranelle in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ranelle can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many Americans are named Ranelle?
Want to know how many people share the name Ranelle? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.