Comments for the name Richard

I've read that "Ryker", which is Dutch, is a variant of Richard.

Name of the guy who played Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies, Richard Harris.

Richard Thomas played John-boy on the show The Waltons from 1972-1977.

My husband is named Richard and I read that it meant "powerful ruler".

Some names are too true to life. Father was Don Richard, meaning "ruler of the world" "power, brave, hardy". He sure was a old Kraut whose home was his castle.

Cool, I'm brave and hardy.

Richard Burgi (born July 30, 1958) stars as Karl, Susan's ex-husband and Julie's father on the popular soap-dramedy "Desperate Housewives".

My son's full name is Richard, we call him Ricky for short. We get compliments a lot because it is an old name, not many people use it now and elders respect that name.

Richard Burton, an actor and one of Liz Taylor's many husbands, is a famous bearer of this name.

Richard Starkey, known by most as Ringo Starr, the drummer for The Beatles, is a famous bearer of this name.

This name reminds me of a creepy old man who taught me how to drive my auto.

Famous bearer is Richard Gere, an American actor.

Famous bearer is Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States.

Famous bearer is Richard von Weizsäcker, President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1984 to 1994.

I've only had negative times with bearers of this name; while I will admit that it is a good strong name, I can only think bad things when I hear it!

Richard was the name of Monica's elderly boyfriend on "FRIENDS" during season 2.

A famous person is Richard Hatch, who won Survivor Season 1. He recently got charged for not paying the government for his Survivor win. He usually walked around camp naked.

Of course we can't forget Rick Springfield! Personally my favourite singer. Though my friends think that's really odd.

Richard is an okay name so long as you don't give him the ridiculous nickname "Dick".

Richard D. Anderson is an American actor.

Richard Krajčo is a Czech actor.

Another famous bearer of this name is silent film star Richard Barthelmess (May 9, 1895 - August 17, 1963). He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in "The Noose" (1928) and "The Patent Leather Kid" (1927).

Be careful with the sneaky nicknames. Dick still lurks about.

Sean Bean played Richard Sharpe in the BBC series Sharpe. Also Richard Dean Anderson (who played Angus Macgyver in Macgyver).

Listen to the German pronunciation of Richard here:
http://www.nordicnames.de/Aussprache.html.

Richard Hammond is a presenter of the wildly popular show, TopGear, in England. He also presented Brainiac: Science Abuse and Richard Hammond's 5 O'clock Show.

Recently (september-october 06) he was in a crash and had to be airlifted to hospital. TopGear was nearly cancelled. He suffered brain trauma but will be fine.

I think the name of the car he was driving was called a vampire or summat. He was trying to break the speed record when he lost control of the car.

Richard Pryor was an American comedian.

Richard Belzer plays Det. John Munch on Law and Order SVU and Homicide: Life On The Street.

A famous bearer is Charles Richard Wilson, better known as Ricky Wilson; lead singer of Kaiser Chiefs.

I really like this name. Many kings have been called it. However I shall never forget the boy whose name was Richard Head. Poor boy. People caught onto the nickname very quickly.

Richard Armitage is a famous bearer. He's an English actor, known for 'Sparkhouse', 'North and South' and 'Robin Hood'.

Richard Schiff, who played Toby Ziegler on the American television drama, The West Wing, is a famous bearer. He won an Emmy for the role.

Rich Fulcher, and American actor and comedian probably best known for his role as Bob Fossil in cult TV show The Mighty Boosh is a (somewhat) famous bearer of this name.

Famous bearer is Richard Wagner (1813-1883), German opera composer. I just can't imagine, that he isn't on the list!

The traditional processional at Western weddings is the Bridal Chorus from Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin".

Richard Trenton Chase, serial killer.

Well it's not exactly a famous bearer but there's an extremely hilarious warlock in the webcomic Looking for Group.

One 'famous' bearer is Richard Rokeby one of the main characters in Patrick Redmond's book "The Wishing Game".

I have never really liked this name. The name has been overused for a long time, and now it sounds quite old-fashioned. It sounds a tad elitist despite the fact that it's been so common, and I dislike all the nicknames that come out of it: Dick, Rick, Ricky, Rich, and Richie. This sounds like the name people gave to their unwanted sons in lack of better ideas.

Whoa! Look, I'm all for people having opinions, but that is an *insanely* harsh thing to say (and I found a comment similar to this--no doubt from the same poster--for the names Mary and John, and I think William, as well). A boy is not named Richard, a fairly common name, because he was "unwanted." That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.
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In my family, Richard is quite a common name. It's the name of my late great-grandfather, his daughter's husband (my grandparents), his son (my great uncle), and my great uncle's son. And they all had/have different nicknames: my great-grandpa was Dick (which is obviously not usable on young Richards anymore), my grandpa is Rich, my great uncle is Rick, and my cousin is Rick/Ricky, depending on who he's talking to. They also all have different middle names.

Over time, Richard has become my favorite male name, and if I ever have a son, there's a good chance that this will be his name (unless, of course, my husband absolutely hates the name). I think his full name would be Richard Thomas--my great-grandpa's name. He was a very honorable, hard-working man, and though I only knew him for four years before he died, I think of him as a good namesake for a child.

I love this name! It conveys strength and endurance.

Richard Krajíček, a tennis player, born 6th December, 1971 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Little Richard was born in 1932.

I love this name, but unfortunately it's associated with anti-Semitic composer Richard Wagner, who greatly influenced Hitler.

I recall that it carried the meaning of "Stern, but Just".

Richard Cypher is the name of the main character and true seeker in the TV show, "The Legend of the Seeker" (I believe it's also a book). Richard is played by Craig Horner.

Richard Petty, "The King" of NASCAR, is a famous bearer of this name.

Richard Wurmbrand, founder of Voice of the Martyrs. He spent 14 years in a Communist prison in his native Romania. He was known sometimes as "Iron Curtain Paul." He died in 2001.
On a personal note, Richard is also my youngest brother's name. :D

Richard Cypher/Rahl is the name of the protagonist in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. This is an excellent example of the meaning of the name Richard.

I really like the name Richard, but the thing that would stop me from using it for my children is the nickname Dick. Lovely name anyways.

Can't believe no one's mentioned Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker.

I personally like this name because it's more like in the past and I am into that sort, and to see that it is of Ancient Germanic and the others. It's a bit of a thrill to find out what your name's history is.

Richard is one of those "rise-and-fall" names in which it was getting more popular for many decades, stayed popular for a few decades, then slowly gotten less and less popular. My own name, Jonathan, is similar.

"Ri" = King (Gall, Gaelic, Celtic, and Modern Irish)

"char" = Firey, wind of life breathing in and out your head; Soul

"d" = Demarcation of divinity, definite article "the".

An in-depth explanation follows, if interested...

Richard is a divine king chosen by God and blessed with an equally divine soul from God living in his head that lives and breathes the will and power of God. The name precedes Christianity back to ancient Gall, which means it isn't in the Bible and isn't Christian per se. Still, as the Gall, Gaelics, and Celtics fell to Rome and converted to Catholicism, these meanings were carried on in tradition. Most famously Richard the Lionhearted devoted much of his reign and life to the crusades to preserve Christian holy sites, relics, and history. However, the name still bears traditional meaning in regard to Druid and Goeth beliefs.

Richard came from the Norse as Ryker but then was assimilated into Gall, pre Julias Caesar before any Roman is known to set foot on the shores of Western Europe. "Richard" is first known recorded use was in 44 A.D. as either a minor king or general that fought valiantly but eventually lost during the Roman invasion or Roman-Gaelic war.

"Ri" is Gall for "King" of which there were many where fiefdom got its start - "Ard Ri" would be "High King" and is either the chicken or the egg of the legends of King Arthur (Ard was "Arth" and "Ri" was transliterated from Middle English to "ur", hence King Art or King Arthur. "Ri" continues to be the word for king in native Irish. Also being former members of the Gall, then Gaelic, then Celtic empires, French, Portuguese, and Spanish have remarkably similarly pronounced words for "king". "Ri" would have been pronounced with a glotteral "R" that sounds like a gargle or a vocal gruff "H" in English... similar to how the French and Portuguese pronounce words beginning with "R" today.

"-char-" prior to 1300 would have been "-ghar-" or "-ghal". "L" and "R" were pronounced so similarly by the Romans and similarly enough by the conquered Gaelics who wanted no part in the phoneticization of their language into Latin, so confusion. These letters were often switched in writing, then eventually writing led to pronunciation and the true form was lost since there all now dead languages.

Whether "-ghar-" or "-ghal-", in antecedent Gall they were either "gar" or "gal". "Gall" being the name of the culture, both have very steeped spiritual roots. "Gal" meant the holy breath of life breathed into the head, while "Gar" meant the holy breath of life exhaled or uttered. One is breathing in your mind, and the other was speaking your mind. Also, permutations of these words meant "Head", "Skull", "Bone", "Yell", "Groan", and "War". In English a form still exists as "gale" or wind (God's breath... wind...). In particular, "Gale" refers to the westerly wind that comes in and warms the west coast of Europe; the Germans call it "Golf". "Gwar" and "Guerra" are examples from other languages with Gaelic influence that mean "War". According to the New Testament, this root word can even be found in the name given to the hill where Jesus Christ was crucified, Golgotha, meaning "The Skull". While Richard is not a Christian name by origin, the language from which it grew was consequential enough early enough to phonically influence the names of of famous places in Christendom like "Golgotha" and "Galilea", the "Gol" and the "Gal" of which phonetically evolved into the modern English second sylable of "Richard".

Finally, "-d" meant divine. In English the definite article is "the", it recognizes a noun and puts it into orbit to be either subject or object, to act or be acted upon. Essentially, "the" defines or gives some definition to the noun as a particular as opposed to "a" or "some" which leaves the noun "indefinite" - perhaps incidental but specifically unimportant to a story that may be told. This concept of articles originated in ancient Semitic languages of the near east, but the definite article more than defined it demarcated something as divine - like acknowledging God's hand in it. Unlike in English where we precede the noun with "the", in Semitic languages it was/is a "t" or a "'t" dropped within the word, often at the end. Since the Semitic "t" was pronounced like the "th" in "the", English by royal decree implemented "the" as its definite article. But, since in many Latin languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian pronounce the letter "d" like the English "the" in "the", when King James Court and William Shakespeare were Latinizing Middle English into Modern English in the 14th century, the divine/definite article landed at the end of Richar in the form of a "d", which also tips the English hat to the Gaelic roots it also shares with these other countries.

So, that's the gist on the mighty name Richard.

This is the name of Richard Alpert, a character from the TV-series LOST.

It's a beautiful and royal name, but more than that, it reminds me almost immediately of Richard Chamberlain, a great actor, known from Thornbirds.

It's kind of boring, stuffy, and old fashioned. But I'd rather meet a little Richard than a little Jayden/Braden/Caden any day.

The nickname Richie brings up the image of a cute little boy with shaggy dark hair and blue eyes. Then as a teenager, he could go by Rich, and into adulthood, the name Richard would go quite nicely on resumes! It's a good growing up name, and not as common these days. Like the previous poster said, I'd rather meet a little Richard than a little Aiden/Brayden/Jayden any day.

Richard Anuszkiewicz (pronounced Aah-Nuss-KAY-Vitch; born May 23, 1930, Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor.

Richard Bergh (Sven Richard Bergh) (1858-1919) was a Swedish painter, writer and art administrator.

Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828) was an English painter.

Richard, second son of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders.

Richard was the son of King John "Lackland" of England and his wife Isabelle. He was the Earl of Cornwall.

Richard was one of the sons of King Edward IV of England and his wife Elizabeth Woodville. He was one of the "Princes of the Tower", who disappeared after being taken to the Tower of London.

A famous bearer is Richard Grayson, the first Robin. He later became Nightwing, and he was Batman for a period of time when Bruce Wayne was believed to be dead. When Bruce returned, he went back to being Nightwing.

I have a cousin named Richard. We call him "Dick" and "Dickie" for short. We see nothing wrong with the nicknames despite it being slang for a man's... well, you know.

Name of the Day - October 28, 2012.

Richard I of England, otherwise known as Richard the Lionheart, was famous for his chivalry and even forgave the boy who eventually killed him.

A famous Character Bearer is Happy Days star Richard "Richie" Cunningham played by Ron Howard.

I can't help but think of Richie Cunningham! Surprised no one has mentioned that.