Renee
- Pronunciation
- [Re-nee]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Reborn
- Origin
- French
About the Name Renee
Renee is the French feminine form of René, derived from the Latin Renatus, meaning "reborn." The name carries the spiritual resonance of rebirth — a concept central to Christian baptismal theology — as well as the cultural prestige of French naming traditions. In France the name has centuries of use across both genders in their respective forms; in American use, Renee without the accent became the standard anglicized spelling, retaining the French pronunciation and association while shedding the diacritical mark.
Renee Zellweger (born 1969) is an American actress whose three-decade career has produced multiple defining film roles and a total of two Academy Award wins alongside three Best Actress nominations — making her one of the most decorated performers of her generation in American cinema.
Renee first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 1959 and peaked in 1967 at #62, capturing the late-1960s wave of French-influenced feminine names that swept American nurseries. The name had a long and steady run, last appearing in the top-1000 in 2019 at #976 with 266 births — a full six decades of presence that accumulated 108,930 top-1000 births. Today it carries a gentle vintage quality: clearly of a particular era yet not dated enough to feel inaccessible. Recorded variants include Renata, the Latin original form, and Renny, a casual diminutive.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Renee
US Popularity History (1959–2019)
Annual US births named Renee by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1962 with 6,013 girls named Renee (girl rank #76 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2019, ranked #976 for girls (266 US births). That's 900 places below its 1962 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
Paste the snippet below on any HTML page. Includes a credit link back to 9BabyNames — please keep it intact.
Where in the US Is Renee Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Renee the strongest states are Utah, New York, Arizona.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Utah | #721 | 23 |
| 2 | New York | #764 | 176 |
| 3 | Arizona | #789 | 60 |
| 4 | New Jersey | #818 | 46 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | #821 | 49 |
| 6 | Missouri | #834 | 21 |
| 7 | Indiana | #837 | 23 |
| 8 | Ohio | #837 | 60 |
| 9 | Washington | #847 | 32 |
| 10 | Michigan | #871 | 37 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | #1,033 | 85 |
| 2 | Florida | #1,020 | 51 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania | #924 | 52 |
| 4 | California | #889 | 292 |
| 5 | Michigan | #871 | 37 |
| 6 | Washington | #847 | 32 |
| 7 | Ohio | #837 | 60 |
| 8 | Indiana | #837 | 23 |
| 9 | Missouri | #834 | 21 |
| 10 | Massachusetts | #821 | 49 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Renee in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Renee
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Renee.
- Renee Zellweger — Movie Actress (1969)
Looking for names like Renee?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Renee to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Renee against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
Renee Baby Name Ideas
- When a First and Middle Name Share the Same Ending Sound: Deciding Whether the Echo Helps
- Baby Names for Last Names Ending in -er: Breaking Up the Repeated Ending
- Should You Keep Diacritics in a Baby Name? Choosing an Accurate Everyday Spelling
- Baby Names with Silent Letters: Elegant Names with Hidden Sounds
- Two-Syllable Baby Names: The Rhythm That Sounds Right Out Loud
- Twilight-Inspired Baby Names: The Cullens Were Ahead of the Antique Revival
- Andorran Boy and Girl Names: A Glimpse into the Unique Culture of Andorra
- Andorra-Inspired Baby Names: Unique Choices for Boys and Girls
- March Baby Names: Celebrate Spring with Meaningful Names
- 33 Classic Place Names For Your Little Boys Or Girls
- 200 Unique Pretty Girl Names For Your Beautiful Babies
- Hundreds of Unique Destination Baby Names