Richard
Richard is ranked 232nd among boys in 2024 (1,539 births). Its best rank was 5th, in 1930–1947.
- Rank in 2024
- #232down 11 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 1,5390.09% of boys
- Peak year
- 194658,871 births
- Best rank
- #5first in 1930
- Since 1880
- 2,585,535people given the name
The story in the numbers
2,576,005 boys have been named Richard in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1946, with 58,871 births — 3.6% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 1,539 births in 2024, against 58,871 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1952, and the 1950s alone account for 21%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 127 of them in the top 100 and 51 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 9,530 girls have also been given it, 0.37% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Richard | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 7,010 | |
| 1890s | 7,572 | |
| 1900s | 10,675 | |
| 1910s | 74,603 | |
| 1920s | 222,598 | |
| 1930s | 330,501 | |
| 1940s | 477,472 | |
| 1950s | 535,453 | |
| 1960s | 373,894 | |
| 1970s | 202,808 | |
| 1980s | 154,750 | |
| 1990s | 94,874 | |
| 2000s | 48,582 | |
| 2010s | 26,737 | |
| 2020s | 8,476 |
In 1946, its biggest year
Richard was the 5th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1946 were James, Robert, John, William and Richard. See all of 1946.
Names that rose and fell with Richard
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Freddiepeak 1947
- Allanpeak 1947
- Bennypeak 1948
- Waynepeak 1947
- Jeromepeak 1954
- Kennethpeak 1957
- Teddypeak 1949
- Darrelpeak 1960
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.