Ronny
A masculine diminutive of Ronald; brave counselor.
Name Census estimates that about 11,561 living Americans carry the first name Ronny. It is a predominantly male name (96.8% of registrations). The average person named Ronny today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ronny births was 1947 (438 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ronny. 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 Ronny with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ronny is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 478 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 29,647 Americans
Peak year
1947
438 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,539
Tracked since 1927
Census
Ronny in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,275 people with the first name Ronny, which placed it at #2,296 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
#2,296
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
11,275 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ronny
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ronny is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.0%) and Black (10.5%). 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 Ronny 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 Ronny at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.7% · 6,055
- Hispanic or Latino28.0% · 3,155
- Black or African American10.5% · 1,188
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 492
- Two or more races2.4% · 274
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 111
Gender
Gender distribution for Ronny
Ronny leans heavily male at 96.8% of total registrations, but 478 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ronny as a male name
- Ranked #2,539 in 2024
- 53 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1947 (430 births)
Ronny as a female name
- Ranked #14,821 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1970 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ronny leans strongly male. 10,813 people counted with this name were male (95.8%), compared with 472 female bearers (4.2%).
Popularity
Ronny: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ronny from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 3,283 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ronny 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 Ronny during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ronnys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Ronny, while Maryland, Wisconsin, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 295 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ronny
The name Ronny is a diminutive form of the name Ronald, which originated from the Old Norse name Rögnvaldr. This name is composed of the elements "rögn" meaning counsel or advice, and "valdr" meaning ruler or leader. The name Rögnvaldr can be traced back to the Viking Age and was prevalent among Scandinavian cultures.
In the early medieval period, the name Rögnvaldr was often anglicized as Rognvald or Reginald. As time passed, the name evolved into various forms, including Ronald, Ronnie, and Ronny. The name Ronny gained popularity as a diminutive form, particularly in English-speaking countries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rögnvaldr can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, which were written in the 13th and 14th centuries. These sagas recount the lives and adventures of Scandinavian rulers and heroes, some of whom bore the name Rögnvaldr.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Ronny or its variations. For example, Ronny James Dio (1942-2010) was an American heavy metal singer and songwriter known for his powerful vocals and theatrical stage presence. Ronny Whyte (1923-2005) was a South African cricketer who played Test cricket for South Africa in the 1940s and 1950s.
Another notable figure was Ronny Jaques (1912-1982), a British film director and screenwriter known for his work on several classic British comedies. Ronny Mauricio (born 2001) is a Dominican professional baseball shortstop currently playing in the Minor Leagues for the New York Mets organization.
In the realm of literature, Ronny Cammareri is a character in the novel and film "Moonstruck" by John Patrick Shanley. The character, played by Nicolas Cage in the film adaptation, is known for his charismatic yet temperamental personality.
It is worth noting that while the name Ronny has been used throughout history, its popularity has fluctuated over time and across different regions. Nevertheless, the name remains a diminutive form of Ronald, carrying a rich history and connection to its Old Norse roots.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ronny
People
Ronny + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ronny 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
Ronny: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ronny?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,561 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ronny 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 29,647 US residents.
Is Ronny a common name?
We classify Ronny as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,011 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ronny most popular?
The single biggest year for Ronny was 1947, when 438 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ronny 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 Ronny in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,275 people with the name Ronny, or 3.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,296 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 Ronny 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 Ronny?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ronny leans strongly male. 10,813 people counted with this name were male (95.8%), compared with 472 female bearers (4.2%). 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 Ronny?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ronny is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.0%) and Black (10.5%). 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 Ronny most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ronny in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.7% (6,055 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 Ronny in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ronny a male name?
Yes, 96.8% of people registered as Ronny 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 Ronny still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ronny 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 Ronny 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 Ronny?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.