Renay
A feminine name of French origin meaning "reborn" or "born again".
Name Census estimates that about 1,602 living Americans carry the first name Renay. It is a predominantly female name (98.8% of registrations). The average person named Renay today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Renay births was 1960 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Renay. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Renay with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 213,954 Americans
Peak year
1960
76 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1961 SSA rank
#4,534
Tracked since 1936
Census
Renay in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,761 people with the first name Renay, which placed it at #8,273 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
#8,273
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,761 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Renay
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renay is White at 54.2%. The next largest groups are Black (30.4%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Renay 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 Renay at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.2% · 954
- Black or African American30.4% · 536
- Hispanic or Latino9.2% · 162
- Two or more races3.5% · 61
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Renay
Renay leans heavily female at 98.8% of total registrations, but 24 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Renay as a male name
- Ranked #4,534 in 1961
- 5 male births in 1961
- Peak: 1951 (7 births)
Renay as a female name
- Ranked #16,018 in 2015
- 6 female births in 2015
- Peak: 1960 (76 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renay leans strongly female. 1,670 people counted with this name were female (95.0%), compared with 88 male bearers (5.0%).
Popularity
Renay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Renay from the 1930s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 642 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
Renay 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 Renay during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Renays live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Renay, while Illinois, Georgia, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Renay
The name Renay has its origins in the French language and culture, tracing back to the medieval period. It is believed to be a variant or diminutive form of the name Rene, which itself is derived from the Germanic name Reinold or Renaud. The name Reinold is composed of the elements "ragin" meaning "counsel" and "wald" meaning "ruler."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Renay can be found in the 12th century, when a noblewoman named Renay de Montreuil is mentioned in historical records from the region of Picardy, in northern France. The name also appears in some medieval literary works, such as the 13th-century French poem "Roman de la Rose."
In the 14th century, a French knight named Renay de Vaudemont fought alongside Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years' War. He is notable for his bravery and loyalty to the French cause. Around the same time, a noble lady named Renay de Châtillon is recorded as having been a patron of the arts and a supporter of troubadours.
During the Renaissance period, the name Renay was borne by a few notable artists and scholars. Renay Dubois (1510-1572) was a French painter known for her portraits of the French nobility. Renay Delacroix (1525-1598) was a renowned philosopher and humanist scholar who studied at the University of Paris.
In the 17th century, a French explorer named Renay Gaultier (1628-1694) is credited with being one of the first Europeans to map and explore parts of what is now Canada's Hudson Bay region. His detailed accounts of the indigenous peoples and landscapes were influential at the time.
Other notable individuals with the name Renay include Renay Lecomte (1767-1834), a French Revolutionary who fought in the Napoleonic Wars, and Renay Moreau (1892-1957), a pioneering female aviator and one of the first women to obtain a pilot's license in France.
People
Renay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Renay 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
Renay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Renay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,602 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Renay 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 213,954 US residents.
Is Renay a common name?
We classify Renay as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,960 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Renay most popular?
The single biggest year for Renay was 1960, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Renay 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 Renay in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,761 people with the name Renay, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,273 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 Renay 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 Renay?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renay leans strongly female. 1,670 people counted with this name were female (95.0%), compared with 88 male bearers (5.0%). 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 Renay?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renay is White at 54.2%. The next largest groups are Black (30.4%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Renay most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Renay in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.2% (954 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 Renay in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Renay a female name?
Yes, 98.8% of people registered as Renay 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 Renay still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Renay 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 Renay 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 have Renay as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Renay on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.