Rene

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Renee in US United States, AU Australia, GB United Kingdom and 8 more, Rini in IN India and רנה in IL Israel.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 12 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◐

Rene is also recorded as 9 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name146K records spelled Rene16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, United Kingdom, Bolivia

  Also written René, Reñé, Réné, Rene', Réne

• Czech given name105K records spelled Rene90 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Czechia, United States, Poland, Croatia

  Languages: Czech, Polish, Croatian

  Also written René, Рене, Renee, Renae, Resnais

• Danish given name68K records spelled Rene28 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, United States, Norway, Netherlands

  Languages: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian

  Also written René, Renè, Rene', Rene’, Réné

• Swahili given name12K records spelled Rene22 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, South Africa, Philippines, Peru

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho, Kinyarwanda

  Also written René, Renè, Rene', Réné, Rènè

• Italian given name5.5K records spelled Rene10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Italy, Peru

  Also written Renè, René, Rene', Rënê, Reñé

• French (Côte d’Ivoire) given name3.8K records spelled Rene3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Côte d’Ivoire

  Also written René, Réné

• Turkish given name3.6K records spelled Rene5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Türkiye, Netherlands, Syria

  Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani

  Also written René, Rene'

• Catalan given name2.9K records spelled Rene4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Argentina

  Also written Reñé, René, Reñe

• a separate given name2.0K records spelled Rene11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, Canada, Netherlands

  Also written René, Renè, Réné, Rënë, Ręńë

64 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●

Rene is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Spanish, kidney

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Romanian, subst., termen geografic (plaj5), formeaza toponime : Renia (Ard), Renea, o insula §i citeva paduri etc., Reni ora§, dar §i antroponime 1. Alexandrescu act. ; Moldoveanu, prenume ; Renle, -ea, -escu (R Gr) ; -ea, V. 1804, bra§ovean, neg. in Bucurejti. 2. Renie 1722 ard. (Pa§) ; - de Herseni (Pu§c. Frag. IV) 3. Renes mr. (Cara 82). 4. Rinie ard., 1633 (Pas) ; Rinesti s. (Gr Buc).

  as a name·Dictionar Onomastic Rominesc

• In enm, alternative form of reyn (“boundary”)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In German, nominative/accusative/genitive plural of Ren

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, definite natural masculine singular of ren

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

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●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 145 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Auguste Rodinb. 1840FRnot in their usual nameFrench sculptor (1840–1917)
• René Guénonb. 1886FRFrench metaphysician (1886-1951)
• René Lacosteb. 1904FRFrench tennis player
• René Goscinnyb. 1926FRFrench comic book artist and author (1926-1977)
• Valéry Giscard d'Estaingb. 1926FRnot in their usual nameFrench official and politician (1926–2020)
• Jacques Chiracb. 1932FRnot in their usual namePresident of France from 1995 to 2007
• René Prévalb. 1943HTEx-President of Haiti (1943-2017)
• François Bayroub. 1951FRnot in their usual nameformer Prime Minister of France (2024–2025)
• René Higuitab. 1966COColombian footballer
• Jen Psakib. 1978USnot in their usual nameWhite House Press Secretary from 2021 to 2022

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 · 1,402 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Rene?

We estimate roughly 300 thousand people bear Rene (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Rene have the most bearers?

Rene is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled rene.

How common is Rene compared with other names?

In Argentina, Rene is the 207th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Rene a male or female name?

Rene is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Rene mean?

Recorded meaning: borne by a 4th-cent. saint, and popular in France through¬ out the Middle Ages because of its transparent reference to Christian spiritual rebirth.