Ronaldo
Ronaldo was given to 77 boys in 2025, #1,988 among boys’ names; 6,043 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,700 Americans named Ronaldo and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 14 and 28.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ronaldo by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ronaldo mean?
Wiktionary, Portuguese section
Ronaldo is “a male given name, equivalent to English Ronald” Its etymology gives the senses “advice” (rǫgn) and “power” (valdr).
Borrowed from English Ronald, anglicized from a Scottish Gaelic form of Old Norse Rǫgnvaldr, from rǫgn (“advice”) + valdr (“power”), later partly merged with the Continental Germanic equivalent Reynold.
/ʁoˈnaw.du/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Portuguese section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ronaldo?
#1,988 among boys’ names, 2025
Ronaldo fell from #1,164 in 2015 to #1,988 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 83.5 to 45.1 per million.
359 babies in 1998, the peak
Ronaldo peaked in 1998, when 359 boys were given it, #552 among boys’ names. The 77 births of 2025 are 21% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 77 | #1,988 | 0.05 |
| 2024 | 81 | #1,951 | 0.05 |
| 2023 | 84 | #1,890 | 0.05 |
| 2022 | 85 | #1,871 | 0.05 |
| 2021 | 81 | #1,898 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 83 | #1,812 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 83 | #1,838 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 103 | #1,600 | 0.06 |
| 2017 | 119 | #1,447 | 0.06 |
| 2016 | 129 | #1,378 | 0.07 |
Every recorded year (100)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 160 | #1,164 | 0.08 |
| 2014 | 161 | #1,169 | 0.08 |
| 2013 | 148 | #1,215 | 0.08 |
| 2012 | 144 | #1,234 | 0.08 |
| 2011 | 154 | #1,166 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 204 | #970 | 0.11 |
| 2009 | 196 | #1,005 | 0.10 |
| 2008 | 179 | #1,060 | 0.09 |
| 2007 | 212 | #937 | 0.10 |
| 2006 | 264 | #787 | 0.13 |
| 2005 | 201 | #898 | 0.10 |
| 2004 | 240 | #759 | 0.12 |
| 2003 | 236 | #755 | 0.12 |
| 2002 | 224 | #771 | 0.12 |
| 2001 | 167 | #933 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 177 | #887 | 0.09 |
| 1999 | 253 | #668 | 0.13 |
| 1998 | 359 | #552 | 0.19 |
| 1997 | 157 | #883 | 0.08 |
| 1996 | 69 | #1,472 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 36 | #2,242 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 27 | #2,739 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 18 | #3,618 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 19 | #3,432 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 20 | #3,197 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 18 | #3,429 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 49 | #1,633 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 23 | #2,577 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 25 | #2,315 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 16 | #3,100 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 25 | #2,214 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 28 | #1,966 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 29 | #1,896 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 25 | #2,155 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 21 | #2,397 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 28 | #1,994 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 29 | #1,897 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 20 | #2,360 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 21 | #2,255 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 27 | #1,863 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 21 | #2,187 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 22 | #2,040 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 16 | #2,484 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 31 | #1,557 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 27 | #1,738 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 22 | #1,927 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 22 | #1,797 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 21 | #1,773 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 29 | #1,439 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 14 | #2,196 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 18 | #1,902 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 26 | #1,569 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 24 | #1,651 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 24 | #1,663 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 21 | #1,812 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 26 | #1,612 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 25 | #1,616 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 19 | #1,883 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 23 | #1,711 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 16 | #2,074 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 21 | #1,717 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 20 | #1,749 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 18 | #1,883 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 11 | #2,482 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,036 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 11 | #2,416 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 10 | #2,582 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 8 | #2,969 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,643 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 8 | #2,876 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 6 | #3,265 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,826 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 6 | #3,491 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,165 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 6 | #3,436 | under 0.01 |
| 1940 | 8 | #2,828 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 8 | #2,787 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 9 | #2,617 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 8 | #2,863 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 5 | #3,970 | under 0.01 |
| 1934 | 5 | #4,120 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,194 | under 0.01 |
| 1930 | 8 | #3,242 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,497 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 5 | #4,627 | under 0.01 |
| 1925 | 5 | #4,763 | under 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,838 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 8 | #3,453 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,465 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,201 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ronaldo a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ronaldo has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 100 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ronaldo: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ronaldo, and how old are they?
5,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 6,043 Americans ever recorded as Ronaldo. The median Ronaldo alive today is 21 years old; half are between 14 and 28.
The 2020 Census counted 8,530 people named Ronaldo (29 women and girls, 8,501 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,313 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 22 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 232 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 326 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 426 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,310 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,380 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ronaldo born?
The states with the most babies named Ronaldo are California, Texas and Florida, with 87% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 15 | #1,289 | 1.8× |
| Texas | 13 | #1,463 | 2.0× |
| Florida | 6 | #1,795 | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 5 | #1,430 | 0.6× |
Where Ronaldo is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ronaldo is most over-represented in Texas: since 1914 it was given 2.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ronaldo with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ronaldo
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ronaldo and names like it
- Compare Ronaldo and LucBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sRonaldo peaked in 1998.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ronaldo since 1910.
- Portuguese namesWiktionary’s origin for Ronaldo: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Ronaldo.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Ronaldo alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with RMost given first.