How common is the surname Rainer?

3,518 people in the United States had the surname Rainer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 87,762 Americans. It ranked 9,255th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Rainer?

Yvonne Rainer, American artist (born 1934), followed by Arnulf Rainer.

Where is the surname Rainer most common?

Wikidata records people named Rainer in Austria and the United States.

Is the surname Rainer getting more or less common?

More common. 3,107 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,518 in 2010, up 13%.

Is Rainer also a first name?

Yes. Rainer is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Rainer

A patronymic surname, carried by 3,518 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex R560 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Rainer is more common than 94.3% of them.

Origin

Variant of Rayner, a patronymic surname from a medieval given name from Proto-Germanic *raginą (“counsel by the gods”) + *harjaz (“army”). Also borrowed from modern German.

Rainer is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 3,518 people named Rainer in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 87,762 Americans. That is up 13% since 2000, when the Census counted 3,107.

#9,255

rank among US surnames

3,518

people in 2010

1.2

per 100,000 Americans

+13.2%

change since 2000 (was #9,598)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#9,251	Cui	3,520	87,712
#9,253	Talton	3,519	87,737
#9,255	Mill	3,518	87,762
#9,257	Bakke	3,517	87,787
#9,258	Krawczyk	3,516	87,812
#9,262	Gingrich	3,515	87,837

Who is named Rainer

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

72% of people named Rainer identified as white (not Hispanic), 23% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 72%
Black (not Hispanic) 23%
Two or more races 2.6%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Rainers

5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Yvonne Rainer
American artist (born 1934)
Arnulf Rainer
Austrian artist (1929–2025)
Roland Rainer
Architect from Austria (1910-2004)
Karl Rainer
Austrian association football player (1901-1987)
Alfred Rainer
Austrian alpine skier (1987–2008)

Notable Rainers come mostly from Austria (4) and the United States (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Rainer

Rainer has the Soundex code R560, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R560.

Questions

Where does the surname Rainer come from?: Variant of Rayner, a patronymic surname from a medieval given name from Proto-Germanic *raginą (“counsel by the gods”) + *harjaz (“army”). Also borrowed from modern German.
How common is the surname Rainer?: 3,518 people in the United States had the surname Rainer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 87,762 Americans. It ranked 9,255th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Rainer?: In the 2010 Census, 72% of people named Rainer identified as white (not Hispanic), and 23% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Rainer?: Yvonne Rainer, American artist (born 1934), followed by Arnulf Rainer.
Where is the surname Rainer most common?: Wikidata records people named Rainer in Austria and the United States.
What type of surname is Rainer?: Rainer is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Rainer getting more or less common?: More common. 3,107 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,518 in 2010, up 13%.
Is Rainer also a first name?: Yes. Rainer is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.