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Ralph.

A male given name from the Germanic languages.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈɹælf/[ˈɹʷælf]/ˈɹeɪ̯f/[ˈɹʷeɪ̯f]
  1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.

  2. A surname originating as a patronymic.

  3. Fictional person used in references to vomiting.

    slang
    He's outside calling Ralph [i.e. vomiting].
  4. An unincorporated community in Harding County, South Dakota, United States.

  5. An unincorporated community in Webster County, West Virginia, United States.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *-dʰh₁eti Proto-Indo-European *-dʰeti Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁dʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *rēdaz Proto-Indo-European *wl̥kʷós? Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos Proto-Germanic *wulfaz Proto-Germanic *Rēdawulfaz Proto-West Germanic *Rādawulf Old English Rǣdwulf Middle English Radulf English Ralph From Middle English Radulf, from Old English Rǣdwulf (also as Raulf), from Proto-West Germanic *Rādawulf, from Proto-Germanic *Rēdawulfaz. Reinforced by similar forms brought to England, e.g. Old Norse Ráðúlfr, then in the Norman form Old French Radulf, Radulph. For the sense relating to vomiting, see ralph.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.