Richard

Where Richard comes from

From Middle English Rycharde, from Old French Richard, from Medieval Latin Richardus, Ricohardus, from Frankish *Rīkahard, from Proto-Germanic *Rīkaharduz, a construction of *rīks (“king, ruler”) + *harduz (“hard, brave”). Cognate with Old High German Rīcohard (“Richard”). Partially related to rich. A hypothetical Old English equivalent *Rīċheard would also yield an identical "Richard" in Modern English, though it is unknown if the Old English equivalent existed.
— Wiktionary's entry for Richard
  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1813
    Richard Wagner born
    German composer
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #23 among boys — 728 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1913
    Richard Nixon born
    president of the United States from 1969 to 1974
  4. 1946
    Peak, #5
    58,870 babies named Richard — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1971
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #11.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages.
Namesakes
  • Richard Wagner · German composer, 1813–1883
  • Richard Nixon · president of the United States from 1969 to 1974, 1913–1994
  • Richard Feynman · American theoretical physicist, 1918–1988
  • Richard Dawkins · English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author, born 1941
  • Richard I of England · King of England from 1189 to 1199, 1157–1199

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.