Ragnar ( non, Ragnarr ) is a masculine 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 Reginheri was a Viking leader in the early 9th century. Reginheri is mentioned in Latin Frankish sources as the leader of a group of Vikings who in 845 raided Paris in West Francia. He is mentioned in the Annals of Xanten in the entry for the yea ...

'', which gave rise to the modern German form Rainer, the French variant Rainier, 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 Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

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 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 Florenti ...

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. The name was variously latinized as ''Raganarius'', ''Reginarius'', ''Ragenarius'', ''Raginerus'', ''Ragnerus'', ''Reginherus''. The Scandinavian patronymic form is

Ragnarsson Ragnarsson is the patronymic of the Scandinavian given name Ragnar. It remains in use as a true patronymic in Iceland, and as a surname in Sweden. ;Patronymic *Baldur Ragnarsson (born 1930), Icelandic poet and author of Esperanto works *Halfdan Ra ...

. 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 Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

in Scandinavia. The name is now current as ''Ragnar'' in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and The Faroe Islands and as ''Ragner'' in Denmark. A 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 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 (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 Sven Erik Ragnar of Alingsås, Sweden (1937 - October 19, 2007) Sven Erik was 1963 employed by the Skandinaviska Banken in Stockholm. Sven Erik was later CEO of Götabanken and after that CEO of Reinholds AB. Sven Erik had a keen interest in ...

* Per Ragnar

Pseudonym

*Ragnar Redbeard, the pseudonymous author of ''

Might Is Right ''Might Is Right'' ''or The Survival of the Fittest'' is a book by pseudonymous author Ragnar Redbeard, generally believed to be a pen name of Arthur Desmond. First published in 1896,Gilmore, Peter H.; Introduction, Might is Right: The Authorit ...

'' (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 ''Atlas Shrugged'' is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. It was her longest novel, the fourth and final one published during her lifetime, and the one she considered her '' magnum opus'' in the realm of fiction writing. ''Atlas Shrugged'' includes eleme ...

'' (1957) *Ragnar McRyan, character from the role-playing game '' Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen'' (1990) *

Ragnar Sturlusson This is a list of characters from the two Philip Pullman trilogies, ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Book of Dust''. Introduced in ''Northern Lights'' Lyra Belacqua Lyra Belacqua, later known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the central character of ...

, 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 letter (alphabet), 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, a ...

'' (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)