Holiday Calendar

National Ronald Day

Next celebratedThursday, December 3, 2026

National Ronald Day keeps December 3, a date four other countries dispute: Sweden's almanac gives Ronald May 16, Norway August 9, Estonia July 16 and Austria August 20. Of 21 name-day calendars, none puts him in December.

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Last updated September 6, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEDecember 3
OBSERVED INInternationally
CATEGORYNames
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

The listings agree on the date and nothing else.

No founder, establishing record, or reason for the December 3 date has been identified for National Ronald Day. Holiday-listing sites carry the day and report its origin as unknown as well.

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INTRO

Four European calendars got there first

National Ronald Day has four rivals. Sweden's almanac gives Ronald May 16. Norway's gives him August 9, Estonia's July 16 and Austria's August 20.

December 3 is not among them. Behind the Name tracks name-day calendars in 21 countries, and in none of them does Ronald hold a day in December.

The date is already spoken for. December 3 is the feast of Francis Xavier, who turns up across the Catholic calendars in local dress: Franz Xaver in Austria, Xaver in Germany, Francisco and Javier in Spain.

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ORIGINS

Ronald Day history

CHAPTER 01

The earl who began a cathedral

Work on St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall began in 1137, and its founder was Earl Rognvald. He was killed in Caithness in August 1158 and buried in the church he had started. Rome canonised him in 1192, and in English he is Saint Ronald of Orkney, whose feast falls on August 20.

The name reached Britain the way he did. Ronald is the Scottish form of Old Norse Ragnvaldr, built from regin, counsel, and valdr, ruler. Scandinavian settlers and invaders carried it across, and Scotland kept it.

CHAPTER 02

Sixty-five years in the American top hundred

Ronald did not stay Scottish. It entered the American top 100 in 1926 and did not leave until 1990, an unbroken run of 65 years. It sat at 104 the year before it arrived and 101 the year after it fell out.

Then it kept falling. By 2025 the annual American count was the lowest in the federal series since 1913.

CHAPTER 03

Somebody decides these things

A name day is not folklore that simply accumulated. Sweden's almanac has used a new list since 2001, running to 616 names, 300 women's and 316 men's. Four bodies administer it jointly as the Namnlängdskommittén, the Name List Committee: Svenska Akademien, Vetenskapsakademien, Vitterhetsakademien and Institutet för språk och folkminnen.

The committee published its method. Related names were gathered onto shared days, which moved some names off dates they had long held. That is why May 16 in Sweden belongs to Ronald and Ronny together.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why National Ronald Day Matters

Authorship

Four of Ronald's days have a documented decision behind them. This one has a listing.

The four European name days for Ronald are decisions with paperwork behind them. Sweden's list names the committee that keeps it and publishes the rule it followed. December 3 has nothing comparable, and that gap is the honest thing to say about it.

Timing

The name is thinning out while the day arrives

A day for Ronalds lands at the point where there are fewest of them. In the United States the name has fallen for most of eight decades, from a top-ten fixture to a few hundred births a year. In Scotland, where it belongs, the same decline is further along still.

Record

A first name is one of the few things about ordinary people that gets counted

Almost nothing about an average life enters a public dataset. A first name does. American birth records have counted boys named Ronald every year since 1880, and Scottish ones since 1974. That is why a day for a name can be answered with figures instead of sentiment.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Ronald Day by the Numbers

1,082,247
US births named Ronald since 1880
438
US births named Ronald in 2025
111
Scottish boys named Ronald in 1974
1,177
Scottish boys named Ronald since 1974

TIMELINE

Timeline

A cathedral rises in Kirkwall

Earl Rognvald begins building St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney. He is buried there after his death in 1158.

The name acquires a saint

Pope Celestine III canonises Rognvald. English renders him Saint Ronald of Orkney, with a feast day on August 20.

Ronald enters the American top 100

The name begins a run inside the United States top hundred that lasts without a break until 1990.

A record year, and eleventh place

Ronald reaches its all-time American peak and still finishes eleventh, 47 births behind Larry.

The first Ronald McDonald House opens

A house for families of children in treatment opens on October 15 on Spruce Street in Philadelphia.

Sweden rewrites its name list

A new 616-name almanac list takes effect, grouping related names and placing Ronald with Ronny on May 16.

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about National Ronald Day

Ronald's best year knocked it out of the top ten

In 1947 the name reached its highest American total ever, 34,899 births. It finished eleventh. Larry took the last top-ten place with 34,946, a margin of 47 births. Ronald had been tenth in 1946 and was tenth again in 1948, so its record year is the one year in that stretch it missed the cut.

Eight years of a President Ronald moved nothing

Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981. Across his two terms the name fell in eight of nine birth years, from 5,757 in 1980 to 4,110 in 1989, and slid from 58th to 85th. The decline had begun decades earlier and the presidency did not interrupt it.

In Scotland the nickname has outlived the name

Scottish registrars recorded 45 boys named Ronnie in 2025, ranked 111th. Ronald itself did not appear at all that year, its count too low to publish. The pet form now outnumbers its parent by more than twenty to one, in the country the name came from.

The first Ronald McDonald House was named at the funder's insistence

When Philadelphia Eagles staff raised money for a house near the children's hospital, McDonald's agreed to fund it "as long as the house being built for these families would be named the 'Ronald McDonald House.'" The name was the price of the cheque.

A missing year does not mean nobody

Ronald is absent from the American lists for 1880, 1881, 1882 and 1885. That does not mean zero. The Social Security Administration withholds any name with fewer than five births in a year, so those entries mean fewer than five, with no floor. Scotland hides counts of two or fewer for the same reason.

I didn't enjoy being sick. But if I wasn't sick, all of this might not have happened.
Kim HillLeukemia patient whose illness led to the first Ronald McDonald House

GOOD TO KNOW

National Ronald Day Around the World

Sweden

May 16, shared with Ronny, under the almanac list in force since 2001

Norway

August 9, again shared with Ronny

Estonia

July 16, grouped with the cognates Reinhold, Rinaldo, Rein and Reino

Austria

August 20, alongside Bernd and Bernhard

GET INVOLVED

How to Observe National Ronald Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Check whether his family calendar disagrees

A Ronald with Swedish, Norwegian, Estonian or Austrian family may already hold a name day, set by his own country's almanac and falling in May, July or August. Greeting him today may be greeting him on the wrong date.

FIND

Find the year he was born in the birth data

The Social Security Administration publishes American birth-name counts by year, back to 1880 and free to download. It will tell you how many boys shared the name in whichever year you pick.

VISIT

Visit the cathedral the saint started

St Magnus Cathedral still stands in Kirkwall, Orkney, where Earl Rognvald began it in 1137 and was buried after his death in 1158.

GIVE

Give to a Ronald McDonald House

The first opened on Spruce Street in Philadelphia in October 1974, to lodge families whose children were being treated nearby. It takes donations rather than birthday wishes.

ASK

Ask a Ronnie what he is called

In Scotland the short form now vastly outnumbers the full one. If you want to find a Ronald there, the practical route is to ask what the nickname is short for.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Ronald Day?

1 / 5

In how many countries' name-day calendars does Ronald hold a day in December?

Answer

Not in any national calendar that publishes one: Behind the Name tracks 21 countries, and Ronald appears on no December date in any of them. His documented name days are Sweden May 16, Estonia July 16, Norway August 9 and Austria August 20, while December 3 in those same calendars belongs to Francis Xavier, and in Sweden to Lydia.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

14sources
6primary records
2independently dated
Primary records
Svenska Akademien
Namnlängden
The academy's own account of the almanac name list in force since 2001: its 616 names, split 300 women's and 316 men's, the four-body Namnlängdskommittén that administers it, and its stated practice of gathering related names onto a single day.
View source
California Legislative Information2010-07-19
SB 944, chaptered
The enacted California statute designating February 6 as Ronald Reagan Day, adding Education Code section 37222.16 and Government Code section 6723, chaptered July 19, 2010 as chapter 114.
View source
Social Security Administration
Beyond the Top 1000 Names: national birth-name data
The United States national year-by-year counts of births by given name, 1880 to 2025, and the rule withholding any name with fewer than five births in a year. Source of every American figure on this page.
View source
National Records of Scotland2026-05-26
Babies' First Names 2025
Scotland's registered birth-name statistics with the full 1974 to 2025 dataset, its published ranks, and the rule suppressing any name with a total of two or fewer.
View source
St Magnus Cathedral
History
The cathedral's own history, recording that construction began in 1137 and that its founder was Earl Rognvald.
View source
Guild of One-Name Studies
Guild of One-Name Studies
The Guild's own description of its scope, stating that a one-name study concentrates on people sharing a single surname, across 2,079 registered studies covering 7,393 surnames. Establishes that the Guild registers surnames rather than forenames.
View source
Additional coverage
Behind the Name
Ronald
The name's etymology as the Scottish form of Old Norse Ragnvaldr, its cognates across a dozen languages, and the four national name days recorded for it: Austria August 20, Estonia July 16, Norway August 9 and Sweden May 16.
View source
Behind the Name
December Name Days
The full December name-day listing across 21 national calendars, showing every name assigned to December 3 in each and establishing that Ronald appears on no December date in any of them.
View source
Behind the Name
August Name Days
The August listing, recording Austria's August 20 entry of Bernd, Bernhard and Ronald, and Norway's August 9 entry of Ronald and Ronny.
View source
Navnedag.nu
Navnedag 9. august
Independent Norwegian confirmation that August 9 carries the name day of Ronald and Ronny.
View source
Röda Dagar
16 Maj
Independent Swedish confirmation that May 16 is the name day of Ronald and Ronny in the Swedish almanac.
View source
Pistik.net
Nimepäevad juulis
The Estonian July name-day calendar, recording July 16 as Reinhold, Rinaldo, Rein, Reino, Reinu, Reinut and Ronald, which groups the name with its cognates.
View source
Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Penn State University Libraries
The Ronald McDonald House: A Home in Times of Need
The account of the first Ronald McDonald House: Fred Hill's daughter Kim's leukemia diagnosis, Dr Audrey Evans's proposal, the Shamrock Shake funding arrangement, McDonald's condition that the house carry the Ronald McDonald name, the October 15, 1974 opening on Spruce Street, and Kim Hill's 1982 remark.
View source
Wikipedia
Rögnvald Kali Kolsson
Biography of the Orkney earl known in English as Saint Ronald of Orkney, c. 1100 to 1158, recording his August 20 feast day and his canonisation in 1192 by Pope Celestine III.
View source
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