Given name
Ryszard
“a powerful ruler”
Ryszard is a variant of Richard. One English interpretation is “a powerful ruler.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Ryszard is a variant of Richard. One English interpretation is “a powerful ruler.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Ryszard is a variant of Richard. An origin associated with Richard is Germanic.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In Polish use, Ryszard is used as a form of Richard.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1970. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Ryszard is a variant of Richard. The history of Richard gives this family its wider story. The Normans brought Richard to England, where it was borne by three kings. Richard I’s nickname Lionheart and his later appearance in Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe helped give the name a lasting place in popular historical storytelling.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Ryszard through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 33
- 33 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1970
- 7 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 1991. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 7 in 1970. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,738 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Ryszard’s family of names
In Polish usage, Ryszard has a diminutive in Rysiek. Ryszard shares a linguistic root with Richard. In Polish usage, Ryszard has a conventional equivalent in the Portuguese form Ricardo.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Ryszard has relatives in 15 languages.
14 related names in 15 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 18
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Ryszard
- Ryszard KapuścińskiPolish journalist, photographer, poet and author (1932–2007)
- Ryszard KaczorowskiPolish statesman, Last President of Poland in Exile (1919–2010)
- Ryszard SzurkowskiPolish road bicycle racer (1946-2021)
- Ryszard SiwiecPolish patriot (1909–1968)
- Richard BoleslawskiPolish theatre and film director, actor (1889–1937)
- Ryszard LegutkoPolish philosopher and politicianborn 1949
- Ryszard ParulskiPolish fencer (1938–2017)
- Ryszard KuklińskiPolish brigadier general, and spy for NATO during Cold War times (1930–2004)
- Ryszard BugajskiPolish film director, screenwriter, writer (1943-2019)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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