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Ranald

Boys' name

Form of Raghnall

Ranald has been given to 111 babies in the U.S. since 1914. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1959, with 10 recorded.

Babies named Ranald, 1988

1 in 739,000

Ranald over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02.557.51018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ranald: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Raghnall

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Ranald means

Ranald is a form of Raghnall.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Ranald is used in Scottish.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Ranald → Raghnall. The family’s meaning is “advice + power”, recorded in Scottish Gaelic with the source elements rǫgn and valdr.

Origin, language, and formation

Ranald is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Raghnall.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 111 boys were recorded with the name Ranald between 1914 and 1988. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1959; its best national rank was #2,417 in 1914.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Ranald?

Ranald had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1988, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1988
1 in 739,000
5 of 3,694,212 births
Among boys only
1 in 383,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 1988
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
512,128 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ranald sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1988 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 512,128 children born in 1988 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ranald. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ranalds were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ranald was born before 1947 — so the typical Ranald is around 78 today.

Median birth year
1947
About 78 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
20.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
14.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
50
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 20.7% of all recorded uses (23).

Is Ranald rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1959 (10)
Years since peak
66
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,417
1914

Spellings of Ranald

Ranald is not the most common spelling — Donald is, with 51.3% against Ranald's <0.01%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Ranald around the world

Where Ranald ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • Scotland
    1975–1994
    #375
    in 1994

Popularity data from National Records of Scotland. NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Ranald by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,417
1914
Peak year
1959
10 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
1988
All-time count
111
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Ranald

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

RanbirRanvirRansonRanielRangelRandomRanavRanjitRandeeRanardRanellRanierRannieRandynRandylRanaRanenRanulfoRandenRaneRanferiRansomeRanveerRankin

Sibling names for Ranald

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Ranald

Top names of 1959, Ranald's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1914Boys' names starting with R