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Renu

Girls' name

Literal meaning not recorded; Sanskrit origin

Renu has been given to 72 babies in the U.S. since 1964. 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 1981, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Renu, 1990

1 in 790,000

Renu over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Renu: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded; Sanskrit origin

Sanskrit

What Renu means

Renu is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Renu is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 72 girls were recorded with the name Renu between 1964 and 1990. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1981; its best national rank was #6,201 in 1981.

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 Renu?

Renu had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1990, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1990
1 in 790,000
5 of 3,949,959 births
Among girls only
1 in 379,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 1990
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
547,582 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Renu sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1990 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 547,582 children born in 1990 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Renu. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Renus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Renu was born before 1978 — so the typical Renu is around 47 today.

Median birth year
1978
About 47 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
52.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
91.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
72
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 52.8% of all recorded uses (38).

Is Renu 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 1981 (11)
Years since peak
44
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#6,201
1981

Spellings of Renu

Renu is not the most common spelling — Irene is, with 32.6% against Renu'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.

Renu around the world

Where Renu 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.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2009
    #5,556
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Renu by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,201
1981
Peak year
1981
11 that year
First recorded
1964
Last recorded
1990
All-time count
72
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Renu

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

ReniRenliRennRennyRenniRenlyRenlieRenaiRenadRenoRenyaRendiRendyRenathaRenayaRenukaReniceReniyaRenotaReniahRenReniseRennaeReneka

Sibling names for Renu

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 Renu

Top names of 1981, Renu's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1981Girls' names starting with R