Renée is the French feminine of René — from the Latin renatus (reborn) — originally a Christian baptismal name signaling spiritual rebirth. A top-100 US baby name from 1962 to 1979. Renée Zellweger (born 1969) — *American actress; two Academy Awards — Best Supporting Actress for Cold Mountain (2003) and Best Actress for Judy (2019, playing Judy Garland) — sixteen years apart, an unusually long gap between competitive Oscar wins for the same actress. Career-defining role as Bridget Jones in four films (2001-2025). Renée Fleming (born 1959) — American soprano often called "the People's Diva"; National Medal of Arts (2013); sang the national anthem at Super Bowl XLVIII (2014). Renée Russo (born 1954) — American actress and former Ford model. Saint René Goupil* — male, Jesuit martyr in 17th-century North America.
Subject of countless 2020 Oscar retrospectives.
Renée does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Renée reduce to 8, The Visionary. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.