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Boy · Old High German
Rainer
Say it: RY-ner
Meaning
From Germanic ragin 'counsel' and heri 'army'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Popular in Germany in the 1940s to 1960s; the French form Rainier is a Monaco royal name.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 1,044 babies given this name since 1955
- At its height in 2018, about 1 in 34,200 boys
- 48 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Reiner
| English | Rayner |
|---|---|
| French | Rainier |
| Italian | Ranieri |
Famous bearers
- Rainer Maria Rilke, poet
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder, filmmaker
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Royal and noble genealogies
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
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.