Ranulf is a masculine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

. It is derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

name ''Reginúlfr''. This Old Norse

personal name A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...

is composed of two elements: the first, ''regin'', means "advice", "decision" (and also "the gods"); the second element, ''úlfr'', means "

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

". ''Reginúlfr'' was introduced into

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and northern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, by Scandinavian settlers, in the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

People with the name

* Ranulf de Vains, Ranulf the Moneyer, Norman born around circa 1015, appears around 1035 in Domesday *

Ranulf I de Soules Ranulf de Soules was a Norman knight who came to Scotland with David I and served as his cupbearer.M'Michael T., Feudal Family. pp.163-93 Early life Ranulf was probably born in the Cotentin Peninsula at Soules, the family's seigneurie near Saint- ...

, Norman knight who came to Scotland with David I *

Ranulf I of Aquitaine Ranulf I (also ''Ramnulf'', ''Rannulf'', and ''Ranulph'') (820–866) was a Count of Poitiers (from 835) and Duke of Aquitaine (from 852). He is the son of Gerard, Count of Auvergne. Few details are known about Ranulf I, except that he died in 866 i ...

Ranulf II of Aquitaine Ranulf II (also spelled ''Rannoux'', ''Rannulf'', ''Ramnulf'', and ''Ranulph'') (850 – 5 August 890) was Count of Poitou from 866 and Duke of Aquitaine from 887. On the death of Charles the Fat in 888, he styled himself King of Aquitaine and did s ...

Ranulf II, Count of Alife Ranulf II (or Rainulf II, it, Rainulfo; died 30 April 1139) was the count of Alife and Caiazzo, and duke of Apulia. He was a member of the Italo-Norman Drengot family which dominated the Principality of Capua for most of the century between 105 ...

Rainulf Trincanocte Rainulf II, called Trincanocte, was the fourth Count of Aversa (1045–1048), the cousin of his immediate predecessor Asclettin and nephew of Rainulf Drengot, the founder of their family's fortunes in the Mezzogiorno. There was a succession crisis ...

, third count of Aversa *

Ranulf de Broc Ranulf de Broc (sometimes Rannulf de Broc;Keats-Rohan ''Domesday Descendants'' p. 351 died around 1179) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and royal official during the reign of King Henry II of England. He held two offices in the royal household as ...

(died c. 1179), royal marshall *

Ranulf Compton Ranulf Compton (September 16, 1878, Poe, Indiana – January 26, 1974) was a United States representative from Connecticut. He also served as commander of the 327th (345th) Tank Battalion in George S. Patton's 304th (1st Provisional) Tank Brig ...

, United States Representative from Connecticut *

Rainulf Drengot Rainulf Drengot (also Ranulph, Ranulf, or Rannulf; died June 1045) was a Norman adventurer and mercenary in southern Italy. In 1030 he became the first count of Aversa. He was a member of the Drengot family. Early life and arrival in Italy When Ra ...

, Norman adventurer and the first count of Aversa *

Ranulf Flambard Ranulf Flambard ( c. 1060 – 5 September 1128) was a medieval Norman Bishop of Durham and an influential government minister of King William Rufus of England. Ranulf was the son of a priest of Bayeux, Normandy, and his nickname Flambard ...

, Bishop of Durham *

Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester Ranulf II (also known as Ranulf de Gernon), 4th Earl of Chester (1099–1153), was an Anglo-Norman baron who inherited the honour of the palatine county of Chester upon the death of his father Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester. He was de ...

* Ranulf de Glanvill, Chief Justiciar of England *

Ranulf Higdon Ranulf Higden or Higdon ( – 12 March 1364) was an English chronicler and a Benedictine monk who wrote the ''Polychronicon'', a Late Medieval magnum opus. Higden, who resided at the monastery of St. Werburgh in Chester, is believed to ha ...

(or Higden), English chronicler and a Benedictine monk *

Ranulf of Wareham Ranulf of Wareham (died 1222) was a medieval Bishop of Chichester. Life Ranulf was a monk of Norwich Cathedral before becoming prior of that foundation by 1217.Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (No ...

, Bishop of Chichester * Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, English adventurer

Fictional characters with the name

* Ranulf, character in '' Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance'' and its sequel, '' Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn''. * Ranulf, an additional natural son of Henry I of England in

Sharon Kay Penman Sharon Kay Penman (August 13, 1945 – January 22, 2021) was an American historical novelist, published in the UK as Sharon Penman. She was best known for the Welsh Princes trilogy and the Plantagenet series. In addition, she wrote four medieval ...

's Plantagenet series. The meticulous research for which Penman is noted extends to the names of minor characters. Completely fictional characters in her books are rare and are always identified in her author's notes. They serve as devices to illustrate aspects of medieval life, to reveal information, or to bridge gaps in knowledge, especially when such revelations would be out of character for the historical figures in her novels.Penman, Sharon Kay. "Ranulf vs Richard," 5 May 2009. Author's blog article accessed at 14 July 2013.

References

{{given name, cat=none English-language masculine given names