Ragnar

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Ragnar is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name8.2K records spelled Ragnar8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil

  Languages: English, German, Western Frisian

  Also written Ragnår, Râgnår, Rägñãr

• Portuguese given name5.9K records spelled Ragnar5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Spain

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Ragnár, Ragnår

• French given name1.4K records spelled Ragnar7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, United States, Norway

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Ragnär, Rågnår, Rägnar, Ragnàr, Rågnăr

• a separate given name1.3K records spelled Ragnar4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, United States, Sweden, Canada

  Also written Rãgnār, Rágnãr, Ragnãr

• Russian given name160 records spelled Ragnar10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Kazakhstan, Norway, Türkiye

  Languages: Russian, Kazakh, Ukrainian

  Also written Рагнар, Раґнар

42 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Ragnar is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Ragnar är ett nordiskt namn, sammansatt av → Ragn- och efterleden → -ar. Namnet är känt från sagohistorien genom Ragnar Lodbrok. Namnet levde kvar under medeltiden, främst i Götaland, men kom senare ur bruk för att återkomma under 1800-talets nordiska namnrenässans (se Inledning). I både den rikssvenska och finlandssvenska almanackan 1 oktober.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, gegen Fnde des 19. Jh.s aus den skandinavischen Ländern übernommener männl. Vom., der dem deutschen Vornamen

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Scandinavian: from an Old Norse personal name cognate with RAYNER .

  as a word

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

NO SSB — Navn (1880–present) — 81 years between 1945–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ragnar Lodbrokb. 850DKlegendary king of Denmark and Sweden
• Ragnar Östbergb. 1866SESwedish architect (1866–1945)
• Ragnar Sohlmanb. 1870SESwedish chemical engineer, manager, civil servant (1870–1948)
• Ragnar Frischb. 1895NONorwegian economist (1895–1973)
• Ragnar Granitb. 1900FIFinnish scientist (1900–1991)
• Ragnar Nurkseb. 1907EEAmerican-Estonian economist (1907-1959)
• Ólafur Ragnar Grímssonb. 1943ISIcelandic politician, 5th President of Iceland
• Ragnar Bragasonb. 1971ISIcelandic film director
• Ragnar Klavanb. 1985EEEstonian footballer (born 1985)
• Ragnar Sigurðssonb. 1986ISIcelandic football player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 373 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ragnar?

We estimate roughly 22 thousand people bear Ragnar (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Ragnar have the most bearers?

We estimate about 14 thousand people bear Ragnar in Sweden, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled ragnar.

Where is Ragnar most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Ragnar is densest in Iceland — about 1 in 192 people — even though Sweden holds more of our records for it.

How common is Ragnar compared with other names?

In Sweden, Ragnar is the 432nd most common given name of 36,824 given names recorded there.

Is Ragnar a male or female name?

Ragnar is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Ragnar mean?

Recorded meaning: a male given name from Old Norse