Renate
Feminine name of French origin meaning "born again" or "reborn".
Name Census estimates that about 1,025 living Americans carry the first name Renate. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Renate today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Renate births was 1961 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Renate. 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 334,394 Americans
Peak year
1961
67 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2020 SSA rank
#14,747
Tracked since 1917
Census
Renate in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,853 people with the first name Renate, which placed it at #3,530 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
#3,530
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,853 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
94.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Renate
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renate is White at 94.1%. The next largest groups are Black (2.8%) and Two or More Races (1.4%). 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 Renate 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 Renate at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White94.1% · 5,509
- Black or African American2.8% · 161
- Two or more races1.4% · 81
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 71
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 5
Popularity
Renate: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Renate from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 452 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Renate 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 Renate during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Renates live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Renate, while Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Renate
The name Renate is a feminine given name of German origin. It is derived from the Old High German name Reginlind, which is a combination of the elements "regin" meaning "counsel" and "lind" meaning "soft" or "tender." The name can be traced back to the 8th century in the Germanic regions of Europe.
The name Renate gained popularity in medieval times, and it was often associated with nobility and royalty. One notable historical figure who bore this name was Renate of Lorraine, a 13th-century duchess and regent of the Duchy of Lorraine. She played a significant role in the political affairs of the region during her time.
In the Renaissance period, the name Renate was favored among the upper classes and aristocracy in Germany and parts of Austria. A famous bearer of the name was Renate of Bavaria, a 16th-century duchess who was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for the Catholic Church during the Reformation.
Another historical figure with the name Renate was Renate Müller, a German resistance fighter during World War II who was executed by the Nazis in 1944 for her involvement in the anti-Nazi movement.
In the field of literature, one notable bearer of the name was Renate Drucker, a 20th-century German author and poet known for her works exploring themes of identity, displacement, and the human condition.
Outside of Germany, the name Renate has also been used in other European countries, such as the Netherlands and Italy. In Italy, for example, the name is sometimes spelled as Renata, and it has been borne by individuals like Renata Tebaldi, an acclaimed 20th-century Italian opera singer.
While the name Renate has its roots in German culture and history, it has transcended linguistic and geographical boundaries, becoming a name recognized and used in various parts of the world.
People
Renate + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Renate 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
Renate: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Renate?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,025 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Renate 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 334,394 US residents.
Is Renate a common name?
We classify Renate as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,265 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Renate most popular?
The single biggest year for Renate was 1961, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Renate is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Renate in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,853 people with the name Renate, or 1.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,530 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 Renate 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 Renate?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renate appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,847 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Renate?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renate is White at 94.1%. The next largest groups are Black (2.8%) and Two or More Races (1.4%). 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 Renate most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Renate in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.1% (5,509 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 Renate in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Renate a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Renate 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 Renate still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Renate 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 Renate 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 people share the name Renate?
Want to know how many Americans are named Renate? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.