Richard

Where the name comes from

• Germanic (Old High German / Frankish), via Old French
  ruler + hard, strong (“strong in rule”)
  Old High German rih ‘ruler’ + hart ‘strong, hard’ (Old Saxon hard)
  The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources gives Old High German rih ‘ruler’ + hart ‘strong, hard’. The Online Etymology Dictionary traces English Richard through Old French Richard to Old High German Ricohard, “strong in rule”; the first element is the Germanic word that also gives English “rich.”

Richard across traditions

• Frankish and German. Recorded in Latin as Richardi in Austria in 788, one of the earliest dated records of the name.
• Norman and English. One of the most popular names the Normans brought to England. It was usually written Ricardus in Latin, while the everyday form was Ricard, the source of the pet form Rick. Middle English records have Richard from 1387.
• European. Medieval records show Dutch Ryckaert and Rychard (Belgium), Danish Richardus, Middle Low German Rijchard (Estonia), Welsh Richard, and Swedish pet forms such as Riko in Finland.
• United States (SSA). 1,437,122 combined births in the SSA decade tables, 1950s–2010s. Peak decade: the 1950s (535,461 births, #7 among boys). Top 100 in every decade from the 1950s through the 2000s; #146 in the 2010s.

Who carried it

• Richard I (Richard the Lionheart, Richard Coeur de Lion) (1157–1199): King of England 1189–99; his prowess in the Third Crusade (1189–92) made him a popular king in his own time

Forms in other languages

Ricardus, Ricard, Rick, Ricky, Ryckaert, Richardus

Richard in letter-number systems

Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.