Ragnar ( non, Ragnarr ) is a masculine Germanic name, Germanic given name, composed of the Old Norse elements ''ragin-'' "counsel" and ''hari-'' "army".

Origin and variations

The Proto-Germanic forms of the compounds are "ragina" (counsel) and "harjaz" or "hariz" (army). The Old High German form is ''Raginheri, Reginheri'', which gave rise to the modern German form Rainer (given name), Rainer, the French variant Rainier (name), Rainier, the Italian variant Ranieri and the Latvian variant Renārs. The Old English form is "Rægenhere" (attested for example in the name of the son of king Rædwald of East-Anglia). The name also existed among the Franks as "Ragnahar" (recorded as Ragnachar in the book "History of the Franks" by Gregory of Tours).

History of usage

The name is on record since the 9th century, both in Scandinavia and in the Frankish empire; the form ''Raginari'' is recorded in a Vandalic language, Vandalic (5th or 6th century) graffito in Carthage. The name was variously latinized as ''Raganarius'', ''Reginarius'', ''Ragenarius'', ''Raginerus'', ''Ragnerus'', ''Reginherus''. The Scandinavian patronymic form is Ragnarsson. In the modern period, the name was rarely given before the 1880s. It enjoyed a revival in the late 19th and early 20th century, in connection with Viking revival, national romanticism in Scandinavia. The name is now current as ''Ragnar'' in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and The Faroe Islands and as ''Ragner'' in Denmark. A Hypocorism, hypocoristic form used in Sweden is ''Ragge''. The name's popularity in Norway peaked during the 1920s and 1930s, during which time it was given to more than 0.7% of newly born boys, but it has declined ever since the late 1930s, falling below the fraction of 0.1% of given names in the 1970s. The Norwegian statistics office reports 4,652 Norwegian men with the given name in 2015. In Iceland, the name remains popular, recorded at rank 21 (given to 0.76% of newly born boys) as of 2014. The Icelandic statistics office recorded 1,286 Icelandic men (0.2%) with the given name as of November 2005.Statistics Iceland

Given name

;Medieval * Ragnar Lodbrok, 9th century Viking * Ragenar, a 9th-century Frankish bishop * Reginar, Duke of Lorraine (circa 850–915) * Reginar II, Count of Hainaut (890–932) * Reginar III, Count of Hainaut (circa 920–973) * Reginar IV, Count of Mons (circa 950–1013) * Reginar V, Count of Mons (circa 995–1039) * Rainier, Margrave of Tuscany (r. 1014–1027) * Saint Rainier (c. 1117–c. 1160), Pisan saint, also be spelled Raynerius, Rainerius, Rainieri, Ranieri, Raniero, or Regnier. * Renier of Montferrat (1162–1183), son-in-law of Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. In Italian, Ranieri del Monferrato. * Rainier, Marquess of Montferrat (c. 1084-1135), Ranieri I del Monferrato or Marchesato del Monferrato, ruler of the state of Montferrat in north-west Italy from about 1100 to his death. * Rainier I of Monaco, Lord of Cagnes (1267–1314) * Rainier II, Lord of Monaco (14th century) ;Modern :''See .'' *Ragnar Ekberg (1886–1966), Swedish athlete *Ragnar Fjørtoft (1913–1998), Norwegian meteorologist *Ragnar Fogelmark (1888–1914), Swedish wrestler *Ragnar Frisch (1895–1973), Norwegian economist *Ragnar Granit (1900–1991), Finnish-Swedish Nobel laureate *Ragnar Gripe (1883–1942), Swedish sailor *Ragnar Hult (1857–1899), Finnish botanist and plant geographer * Einar Ragnar Jónsson, known as Ragnar í Smára (1904–1984), Icelandic art patron, publisher and art collector *Ragnar Josephson (1891–1966), Swedish art historian and writer *Ragnar Kjartansson (performance artist), Ragnar Kjartansson (1976-), Icelandic performance artist *Ragnar Klavan (born 1985), Estonian footballer *Ragnar Musgrave Colvin (1882–1954), British navy officer *Ragnar Olson (1880–1955) was a Swedish horse rider *Ragnar Östberg (1866–1945), Swedish architect *Ragnar Rump (1991-), Estonian football and futsal player *Ragnar Sigurðsson (1986-), Icelandic professional footballer *Ragnar Sigvald Skancke (1890–1948), Norwegian politician *Ragnar Sohlman (1870–1948), Swedish chemical engineer and creator of the Nobel Foundation

Surname

*Sven Erik Ragnar *Per Ragnar

Pseudonym

*Ragnar Redbeard, the pseudonymous author of ''Might Is Right'' (1890)

Fictional characters

*Ragnar Lothbrok (Vikings), Ragnar Lothbrok, main character in the television series ''Vikings'', portrayed by Travis Fimmel and based on Ragnar Lodbrok *Ragnar Danneskjöld, character in Ayn Rand, Ayn Rand's novel ''Atlas Shrugged'' (1957) *Ragnar McRyan, character from the role-playing game ''Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen'' (1990) *Ragnar Sturlusson, character in the film ''The Golden Compass (film), The Golden Compass'' (1995) *Ragnar Blackmane, "Thunderfist", character in the ''Space Wolf'' series by William King (author), William King (1999) *Ragnar, the main character in the video game ''Rune (video game), Rune'' (2000) *Ragnar Ravnson and his son, Ragnar Ragnarson, characters from ''The Saxon Stories'' historical novel series by Bernard Cornwell (2004) *Ragnar Volarus, character in the ''Red Rising'' trilogy (2015)