Ragnar ( ) is a masculine

Germanic given name Germanic languages, Germanic given names are traditionally wikt:dithematic, dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements (word stem, stems), by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, Æthelred the Unready, King Æþelred's name was ...

, 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; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

form is ''Raginheri, Reginheri'', 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 Latv ...

. The

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

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, 4 ...

in the book "History of the Franks" by

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

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 an ancient city in Northern Africa, 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 classic ...

. 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 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 A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek ; 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 Isabel or '' Bob'' for Robert, or it ...

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 Ragnar Lodbrok (Old Norse: ''Ragnarr loðbrók'', ), according to legends, was a Viking hero and a Legendary Kings of Sweden, Swedish and Legendary kings of Denmark, Danish king.Ragnar Colvin (1882–1954), British Royal Navy admiral * Ragnar Edenman (1914–1998), Swedish politician * Ragnar Ekberg (1886–1966), Swedish athlete *

Ragnar Fjørtoft Ragnar Fjørtoft (1 August 1913 – 28 May 1998) was an internationally recognized Norwegian meteorologist. He was part of a Princeton, New Jersey team that in 1950 performed the first successful numerical weather prediction using the ENIAC e ...

(1913–1998), Norwegian meteorologist *

Ragnar Fogelmark Karl Algot Ragnar Fogelmark (15 March 1888 – 20 September 1914) was a Swedish wrestler. He competed in the light heavyweight event at the 1912 Summer Olympics. Fogelmark committed suicide in 1914. Fogelmark represented Djurgårdens IF Dj ...

(1888–1914), Swedish wrestler *

Ragnar Frisch Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch (3 March 1895 – 31 January 1973) was an influential Norwegian economist and econometrician known for being one of the major contributors to establishing economics as a quantitative and statistically informed science ...

(1895–1973), Norwegian economist *

Ragnar Granit Ragnar Arthur Granit (30 October 1900 – 12 March 1991) was a Finnish-Swedish scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967 along with Haldan Keffer Hartline and George Wald "for their discoveries concerning th ...

(1900–1991), Finnish-Swedish Nobel laureate *

Ragnar Gripe Ragnar Gripe (9 September 1883 – 8 December 1942) was a Swedish sailor who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an ...

(1883–1942), Swedish sailor *

Ragnar Gyllenswärd Ragnar Hugo Ferdinand Gyllenswärd (11 August 1891 – 26 February 1967) was a Swedish jurist who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Sweden for 23 years, including six years as its president. Gyllenswärd started his academic career at U ...

(1891–1967), Swedish jurist *

Ragnar Hult Ragnar Hult (4 March 1857 – 25 September 1899) was a Finnish botanist and plant geographer. He was a forerunner in developing a methodology for vegetation survey. He emphasized the physiognomy of vegetation and paid less attention to its ecolog ...

(1857–1899), Finnish botanist and plant geographer *

Ragnar Josephson Ragnar Josephson (Stockholm 8 March 1891 - Lund 27 March 1966) was a Swedish art historian and writer. Josephson was professor of art history at Lund University 1929-1957 and founder of the Archive for Decorative Art there. He was director of th ...

(1891–1966), Swedish art historian and writer *

Ragnar Skanåker Ragnar Skanåker (born 8 June 1934) is a Swedish competitive pistol shooter who was a world-class shooter for an extremely long period. His international breakthrough came in the 1972 Olympics, where he won the 50 m Pistol event. He is mostly ...

(born 1934), Swedish pistol shooter, 7 time Olympian *

Ragnar Kjartansson (performance artist) Ragnar Kjartansson () is a contemporary Icelandic artist who engages multiple artistic mediums, creating video installations, performances, drawings, and paintings that draw upon myriad historical and cultural references. An underlying pathos and ...

(born 1976), Icelandic performance artist * Ragnar Klavan (born 1985), Estonian footballer * Ragnar Oratmangoen, (born 1998), Dutch footballer * Ragnar Olson (1880–1955), Swedish horse rider * Ragnar Östberg (1866–1945), Swedish architect * Ragnar Rump (born 1991), Estonian football and futsal player * Ragnar Sigurðsson (born 1986), Icelandic professional footballer * Ragnar Sigvald Skancke (1890–1948), Norwegian politician * Ragnar Søegaard, Norwegian businessman *

Ragnar Sohlman Ragnar Sohlman (February 26, 1870 – July 9, 1948) was a Swedish chemical engineer, manager, civil servant, and creator of the Nobel Foundation. Biography Ragnar Sohlman was born in Stockholm to August Sohlman, a well-known newspaper man, ...

(1870–1948), Swedish chemical engineer and creator of the Nobel Foundation

Surname

* Sven Erik Ragnar, Swedish bank executive and scout leader *

Per Ragnar Per Ragnar, ''Per-Erik Ragnar'' (born 29 May 1941), is a Swedish actor, director and author. Biography Ragnar was born in Kalmar, Sweden and is the son of district manager Hans Ragnar and the postal clerk Karin, née Pettersson. Ragnar trained ...

, Swedish actor, director and author

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, in Ayn Rand's novel ''

Atlas Shrugged ''Atlas Shrugged'' is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. It is 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. She described the theme of ''Atlas ...

'' (1957) *Ragnar McRyan, in the role-playing game '' Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen'' (1990) * Ragnar Sturlusson, in the film '' The Golden Compass'' (1995) *Ragnar Blackmane, "Thunderfist", 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), ...

*Ragnar, the main character in the video game ''

Rune Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a ...

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

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 history of A ...

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