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Richards

Boys' name

From Indonesian patronymic; literal meaning unconfirmed

Richards has been given to 119 babies in the U.S. since 1912. 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 1925, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Richards, 1983

1 in 693,000

Richards over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Richards: meaning, origin, and history

From Indonesian patronymic; literal meaning unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Richards means

Richards is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Richards is used in English.

Richards comes through Indonesian patronymic.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 119 boys were recorded with the name Richards between 1912 and 1983. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1925; its best national rank was #2,490 in 1912.

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 Richards?

Richards had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1983, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1983
1 in 693,000
5 of 3,463,011 births
Among boys only
1 in 358,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 1983
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
480,076 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Richards 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 1983 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 480,076 children born in 1983 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Richards. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Richardss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Richards was born before 1935 — so the typical Richards is around 90 today.

Median birth year
1935
About 90 years old
Biggest decade
1930s
21.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
16.0%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
35
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1930s — 21.8% of all recorded uses (26).

Is Richards 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 1925 (11)
Years since peak
100
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,490
1912

Spellings of Richards

Richards is not the most common spelling — Richard is, with 94.4% against Richards'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.

Richards around the world

Where Richards 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.

  • South Australia
    1954–1961
    #561
    in 1961

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Richards 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
#2,490
1912
Peak year
1925
11 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
1983
All-time count
119
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Richards

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

RichterRickardoRicahrdRiccardoRicharddRicherdRicksonRickfordRichardsonEdwardsRichmondRicquanRickardRickyeRicharRichadRichrdRickeRicardRichyRichardoRicheyRickoRichland

Sibling names for Richards

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 Richards

Top names of 1925, Richards's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1912Boys' names starting with R