Ragnar ( non, Ragnarr ) is a masculine

Germanic given name Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements, by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from ', for "noble", and ', for "counsel". However, there are also ...

, 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 Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

form is ''Raginheri, Reginheri'', which gave rise to the modern German form Rainer, the French variant

Rainier Rainier may refer to the following: People *Rainier (name), a list of people with the given name or surname Places United States * Rainier, Oregon, a small city * Rainier, Washington, a small city * Rainier Beach, Seattle *Mount Rainier, a strato ...

, the Italian variant Ranieri and the Latvian variant

Renārs Renārs is a Latvian masculine given name and may refer to: *Renārs Doršs (born 1985), Latvian alpine skier *Renārs Kaupers (born 1974), Latvian pop singer-songwriter *Renārs Rode Renārs Rode (born 6 April 1989 in Riga) is a retired Lat ...

. 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 Ragnachar or Ragnarius (died 509) was a Frankish petty king (''regulus'') who ruled from Cambrai. According to Gregory of Tours, Ragnachar "was so unrestrained in his wantonness that he scarcely had mercy for his own near relatives".Gregory, II, 42 ...

in the book "History of the Franks" by

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florent ...

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 (5th or 6th century) graffito in

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the clas ...

. 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 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

hypocoristic A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as '' Izzy'' for ...

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 according to legends, was a Viking hero and a Danish and Swedish king.Gutenberg Projec ...

, 9th century Viking *

Ragenar Ragenar (Latin ''Ragenarius'', French ''Ragenaire'' or ''Réginaire'') was the bishop of Amiens from 830 to 833 and again from 834 until his death in 849. His predecessor, Jesse, was initially deposed by the Emperor Louis the Pious in 830 for consp ...

, a 9th-century Frankish bishop *

Reginar, Duke of Lorraine Reginar Longneck or Reginar I ( 850–915), la, Rainerus or ''Ragenerus Longicollus'', was a leading nobleman in the kingdom of Lotharingia, variously described in contemporary sources with the titles of count, margrave, missus dominicus and d ...

(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 Karl Algot Ragnar Fogelmark (15 March 1888 – 20 September 1914) was a Swedish amateur wrestling, wrestler. He competed in the Wrestling at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman light heavyweight, light heavyweight event at the 1912 Su ...

(1888–1914), Swedish wrestler * Ragnar Frisch (1895–1973), Norwegian economist * Ragnar Granit (1900–1991), Finnish-Swedish Nobel laureate *

Ragnar Gripe Ragnar Gripe (September 9, 1883 – December 8, 1942) was a Swedish sailor who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olymp ...

(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 (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, main character in the television series ''Vikings'', portrayed by Travis Fimmel and based on Ragnar Lodbrok * Ragnar Danneskjöld, character in 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'' (1995) *Ragnar Blackmane, "Thunderfist", character in the ''Space Wolf'' series by

William King William King may refer to: Arts *Willie King (1943–2009), American blues guitarist and singer *William King (author) (born 1959), British science fiction author and game designer, also known as Bill King *William King (artist) (1925–2015), Ame ...

(1999) *Ragnar, the main character in the video game ''

Rune Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

'' (2000) *Ragnar Ravnson and his son, Ragnar Ragnarson, characters from ''

The Saxon Stories ''The Saxon Stories'' (also known as ''Saxon Tales''/''Saxon Chronicles'' in the US and ''The Warrior Chronicles'' and most recently as ''The Last Kingdom'' series) is a historical novel series written by Bernard Cornwell about the birth of En ...

'' historical novel series by Bernard Cornwell (2004) *Ragnar Volarus, character in the '' Red Rising'' trilogy (2015)