Ritter
A masculine German name meaning "knight" or "horseman".
Name Census estimates that about 121 living Americans carry the first name Ritter. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ritter today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ritter births was 2016 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ritter. 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
121
~ 1 in 2,832,680 Americans
Peak year
2016
17 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,658
Tracked since 1997
Census
Ritter in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 184 people with the first name Ritter, which placed it at #40,443 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
#40,443
National first-name rank
People counted
184
184 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ritter
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ritter is White at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Ritter 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 Ritter at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.6% · 141
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 20
- Two or more races4.3% · 8
- Black or African American3.8% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 3
Popularity
Ritter: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ritter from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 87 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ritter 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 Ritter 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 Ritter
The name Ritter originates from the German language and has its roots in the Middle Ages. It is derived from the German word "Ritter," which means "knight" or "horseman." This name was initially associated with members of the knightly class or those who had achieved a high rank in the military or nobility.
During the Middle Ages, the term "Ritter" held significant importance and prestige. In medieval societies, knights were revered for their bravery, chivalry, and military prowess. They were often landowners and held positions of power and influence within their respective realms. The name Ritter was likely bestowed upon individuals who had earned their knighthood through acts of valor or service to their lords.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ritter can be found in the Nibelungenlied, a famous German epic poem dating back to the 13th century. The poem mentions several characters with the name Ritter, indicating its widespread use during that time period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ritter. One such person was Ritter von Harnoncourt (1492-1568), an Austrian knight and military commander who fought in the Habsburg wars against the Ottoman Empire. Another prominent figure was Ritter Gottfried von Strassburg (c. 1210 – c. 1280), a renowned German poet and author of the courtly romance Tristan.
In the realm of art and culture, Ritter Raimund (1753-1836) was an influential Austrian actor and playwright who helped shape the development of the Viennese popular theater. Ritter Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), one of the most celebrated German writers and intellectuals, also had the name Ritter as part of his official title.
Moving into the 20th century, Ritter Gerhard Hauptmann (1862-1946) was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912 for his works that portrayed the social and spiritual struggles of the common people.
It is worth noting that while the name Ritter has its roots in the German language, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and regions over time, though its meaning and significance may have evolved or taken on slightly different connotations.
People
Ritter + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ritter 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
Ritter: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ritter?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 121 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ritter 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 2,832,680 US residents.
Is Ritter a common name?
We classify Ritter as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 122 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ritter most popular?
The single biggest year for Ritter was 2016, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ritter is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ritter in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 184 people with the name Ritter, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,443 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 Ritter 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 Ritter?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ritter leans strongly male. 152 people counted with this name were male (80.9%), compared with 36 female bearers (19.1%). 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 Ritter?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ritter is White at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Ritter most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ritter in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.6% (141 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 Ritter in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ritter a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ritter in the SSA data are male. 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 Ritter still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ritter 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 Ritter 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 are called Ritter?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.