Meanings
Richard1
plural Richards
- A male given name from the Germanic languages.
What! do I fear myself? there's no one else by; / Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.
c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]4 more examples
But we have known Williams and Richards, names not found in sacred story, but familiar to our country, prove as gracious saints as any Safe deliverance, Fight the good fight of faith, or such like,
1629, Thomas Adams, Meditations upon Creed: The Works of Thomas Adams, James Nichol (1862), volume 3, page 212I'd love to live in our castle. First I'd change my name from Dickie to Richard. That's my real name and it's a good king name. I don't like being called Dickie anyway, and I don't want to be Dick Junior either because everybody starts calling you Junior. What I'd like to be called is Rich but I don't know how to start people doing it.
1985, William Wharton, Pride, →ISBN, page 97Two months later, on March 24, 1988, Jeffrey met Richard Guerrero in the doorway of the Phoenix Bar (Davis, 1995; Masters, 1993).
2009 September 28, Eldon Chéze, JEFFREY LIONEL DAHMER: A PSYCHOBIOGRAPHICAL STUDY, archived from the original on 09 Dec 2025, page 121While the less-than-a-word improvement was statistically significant, it would be hard to tell if such a small change would improve a person’s life, said Alzheimer’s disease researcher Dr. Richard Isaacson, a preventive neurologist at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Florida.
2023 May 24, Sandee LaMotte, “Can a daily multivitamin slow cognitive aging? Maybe”, in CNN - A surname originating as a patronymic.
Martin Richard was the youngest of three people killed by explosions at the Boston Marathon in 2013.
Richard2
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Richard · proper noun
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃reǵ-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃rḗǵs
- Proto-Celtic*rīxs
- Proto-Germanic*rīks
- Proto-West Germanic*rīk
- Proto-Indo-European*kret-der.?
- Proto-Germanic*harduz
- Proto-West Germanic*hardu
- Proto-West Germanic*Rīkuhardu
- Old High GermanRihhart
- Middle High GermanRihard
- Medieval LatinRichardus
- Old FrenchRichard
- Middle EnglishRycharde
- EnglishRichard
From Middle English Rycharde, from Old French Richard, from Medieval Latin Richardus, Ricohardus, from Frankish *Rīkahard, from Proto-Germanic *Rīkaharduz, a construction of *rīks (“king, ruler”) + *harduz (“hard, brave”). Cognate with Old High German Rīcohard (“Richard”). Partially related to rich. A hypothetical Old English equivalent *Rīċheard would also yield an identical "Richard" in Modern English, though it is unknown if the Old English equivalent existed.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic رِيتْشَارْد
- رِيتْشَارْد (ritšard)male given name
Basque Rikard
- Rikardmale given name
Bengali রিচার্ড
- রিচার্ড (richārd)male given name
Bulgarian Ри́чард, Ри́хард
- Ри́чард (Ríčard)male given name
- Ри́хард (Ríhard)male given name
Catalan Ricard
- Ricardmale given name
Chinese Mandarin 理查德, 里夏爾
- 理查德 (Lǐchádé)male given name
- 里夏爾male given name
- 里夏德male given name
Czech Richard
- Richardmale given name
Danish Richard, Rikard
- Richardmale given name
- Rikardmale given name
Dutch Richard, Rijkert
- Richardmale given name
- Rijkertmale given name
- Rikkertmale given name
Esperanto Rikardo
- Rikardomale given name
Estonian Richard, Riho
- Richardmale given name
- Rihomale given name
Finnish Rikhard, Riku
- Rikhardmale given name
- Rikumale given name
French Richard
- Richardmale given name
German Richard, Rikard
- Richardmale given name
- Rikardmale given name
Greek Ρίτσαρντ, Ριχάρδος
- Ρίτσαρντ (Rítsarnt)male given name
- Ριχάρδος (Richárdos)male given name
Hawaiian Likeke
- Likekemale given name
Hebrew ריצ׳רד
- ריצ׳רד (ritshard)male given name
Hindi रिचर्ड
- रिचर्ड (ricarḍ)male given name
Hungarian Richárd
- Richárdmale given name
Icelandic Ríkharður
- Ríkharðurmale given name
Irish Risteard
- Risteardmale given name
Italian Riccardo
- Riccardomale given name
Japanese リチャード
- リチャード (Richādo)male given name
Korean 리차드
- 리차드 (Richadeu)male given name
Latin Richardus
- Richardusmale given name
Latvian Rihards, Ričards
- Rihardsmale given name
- Ričardsmale given name
Lithuanian Ričardas
- Ričardasmale given name
Māori Rihari
- Riharimale given name
Norwegian Rikard, Richard
- Rikardmale given name
- Richardmale given name
Persian ریچارد
- ریچارد (ričârd)male given name
Polish Ryszard
- Ryszardmale given name
Portuguese Ricardo
- Ricardomale given name
Romanian Riciard, Riciardu
- Riciardmale given name
- Riciardumale given name
Russian Ри́чард, Риша́р
- Ри́чард (Ríčard)male given name
- Риша́р (Rišár)male given name
- Ри́хард (Ríxard)male given name
Scottish Gaelic Ruiseart
- Ruiseartmale given name
Slovak Richard
- Richardmale given name
Spanish Ricardo
- Ricardomale given name
Swedish Rikard, Rickard
- Rikardmale given name
- Rickardmale given name
- Richardmale given name
Ukrainian Рі́чард
- Рі́чард (Ríčard)male given name
Urdu رچرڈ
- رچرڈ (ricarḍ)male given name
Vietnamese Richớt
- Richớtmale given name
Welsh Rhisiart
- Rhisiartmale given name
Cite this entry
Richard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Richard
“Richard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Richard. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Richard,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Richard.
Source: Richard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.