Richard, one of the most common boy's names of the 1900s, is derived from the Old German elements rih, meaning "ruler" or "king," and hart, meaning "hard," "brave" or "firm." Therefore, it translates to "brave ruler" or "brave leader." Richard has appeared on the Social Security Administration's top 1,000 for boy names every year since 1900 and was a top-10 boy's name between 1920 and 1970. It fell out of the top-100 in 2007, has been outside of the top-200 every year since 2020 and has grown less popular every year since 2012.
