Ren is of Chinese origin and means "like" or "similar". It's composed of two characters:人 (rén), meaning 'person', and 如 (rú), which means 'as' or 'like'. Thus, Ren signifies similarity or likeness. This name has gained popularity worldwide due to its simplicity and elegance. It is also found in other Asian cultures, such as Japanese, where it is often spelled เรน or レン. In Western contexts, Ren may be associated with the French word for "again" but it's important to note that this usage is unrelated to its Chinese meaning. Despite being unisex, Ren is more commonly used for males in China and other Asian countries.
The name Ren experienced significant fluctuations in popularity over the past century. It started with a low of just 5 births in 1915 and had its first peak in 1923 with 11 births. The number of births varied between 5 to 10 for several decades until the late 1970s. There was another notable peak in the mid-80s, reaching a high of 40 births in 1988. After a brief dip, popularity rose sharply from the early 2000s onwards, with consistent numbers above 50 births per year since 2005. The most recent years show a significant spike, with over 100 births annually from 2016 to present, and an all-time high of 197 births in 2023. Overall, there have been a total of 2418 babies named Ren since 1915.