Names That Mean Reborn

Chic in the fifties, now kept in the public eye mainly by actress Zellweger. Variations include Rene, Renae, and Renny.

Widely used across Europe as a common baptismal name symbolizing spiritual rebirth, Renata, in this country it has an operatic image via Italian-born divas Renata Tebadi and Renata Scotti.

Though it's used for boys, most non-French people would hear it as a girls’ name. Most would be surprised to learn that Rene has always charted in the US Top 1000 for boys.

This spelling makes a dated name slighly more modern.

Chic in the fifties, now kept in the public eye mainly by actress Zellweger; today's parents seek more moderne Gallic choices.

This name is hanging on as Renee, thanks to Ms. Zellweger, and in newer forms Renae and Renny.

Elegant and worldly.

Here, it's strictly for girls, though Celine Dion's boy Rene-Charles reminded us of its masculine origins.

Significant choice for an Easter-born child.

Renat is a Russian name used as both a variant of Renatus and as an acronym of revolyusiya nauka tekhnika, a Communist phrase meaning "revolution, science, technics." Many of these acronym names exist in Russia, where some Communist parents rejected traditional Russian baby names.