Richard

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Ricardo in BR Brazil, AR Argentina, MX Mexico and 7 more, רישרד in FR France, Richárd in HU Hungary and Ричард in RU Russia.

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 9 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◐

Richard is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name4.0M records spelled Richard68 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Cuba, Brazil, United States, Venezuela

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian

  Also written Richar'D, Rïchärd, Ríchard, Richärd, Richárd

• French given name1.2M records spelled Richard29 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, United Kingdom

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Ricard, Richárd, Richardus, Rïchärd, Riçhard

• a separate given name640K records spelled Richard5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada

  Also written Ri-Chard, Richárd, Ríchard

• Hungarian given name545K records spelled Richard6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Finland, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Richárd, Rïčhärd

• Indonesian given name78K records spelled Richard6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Philippines, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, Malagasy

  Also written 'Richard, Richárd, Richard'

• Thai given name54K records spelled Richard23 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Thailand, Laos, Tanzania

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written ริชาร์ด, Richards, ริชาร์ต, ริชารด์, รีชาร์ด

134 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●

Richard 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 German, Germanic dithematic name from ric + hard ‘ruler/power’ + ‘strong’; page demonstrates compositional-fugen loss and many surname spellings in -t/-d/-ert/-ers.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen

• In French, From Germanic ric “strong” + hard “hard, firm”; not originally the French common sense of “rich man.”

  as a name·Tên Họ Người Việt Nam

• In English, from AN Ricard, CentralFr Richard, OGmc Ric(h)ard ‘powerful brave’; first attested Ricard 1066 DB

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In French, Germanic name meaning ‘strong/rich ruler’; used in the text as a father’s name in patronymics.

  as a name·Tên Họ Người Việt Nam

• In enm, Germanic ‘ruler hard’; common in medieval England and established in Ireland.

  as a name·Irish first names

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) — 146 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●

• Richard III of Englandb. 1452GBking of England from 1483 to 1485
• Richard Francis Burtonb. 1821GBBritish explorer, army officer, writer and scholar (1821–1890)
• Richard Straussb. 1864DEGerman composer and orchestra director (1864–1949)
• Richard Buckminster Fullerb. 1895USAmerican architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist (1895–1983)
• Derek Harold Richard Bartonb. 1918GBEnglish organic chemist (1918–1998)
• Richard Harrisb. 1930IEIrish actor, singer, film director and writer (1930–2002)
• Richard Ernstb. 1933CHSwiss physical chemist and Nobel laureate (1933–2021)
• Richard Flanaganb. 1961AUAustralian writer and novelist
• Mobyb. 1965USnot in their usual nameAmerican musician, DJ and record producer
• Adam Sandlerb. 1966USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor and comedian

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 · 2,229 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Richard?

We estimate roughly 2.5 million people bear Richard (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Richard have the most bearers?

Richard is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled ricardo.

How common is Richard compared with other names?

In Argentina, Richard is the 49th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Richard a male or female name?

Richard 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 Richard mean?

Recorded meaning: From the male personal name Richard, of Germanic origin, literally ‘power-brave’.