Ragnvald

Boy · Old Norse

Ragnvald

Say it: RAHNG-vahl

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Old Norse regin 'the gods, counsel' and valdr 'ruler'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

An earls' name in Norway and Orkney, which passed into Scotland as Ronald.

Its wave through time

No birth counts are recorded for this name in the records loaded here: it has been given to fewer than five babies a year, or not at all, since records began.

Through the ages

  1. The Viking and Anglo-Saxon Age700 to 1100
  2. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  3. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914

Used by

NorwegianSwedishOld NorseScottish

The family of the name

Other spellings: Rognvald

Old NorseRögnvaldr
EnglishReginald
ScottishRonald

Famous bearers

  • Rögnvald Eysteinsson, Earl of Møre
  • Saint Rögnvald Kali, Earl of Orkney

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • The Icelandic sagas and other Old Norse literature
  • Royal and noble genealogies
  • Viking Age runestone inscriptions

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.