Short form of Richard, from Germanic 'ric' (ruler) + 'hard' (brave), meaning brave ruler.
Rich began its life as a pet form of Richard, one of the great warrior names of the Norman conquest. Richard derives from the Old High German elements *ric* (power, ruler) and *hard* (strong, brave) — a name built for kings, which is precisely who wore it. Three English kings bore the name Richard, and the second, Richard I, became 'the Lionheart,' embedding the name in centuries of heroic legend.
Rich was the natural shortening friends and family used, the name at the tavern rather than the throne. Over the centuries, Rich developed its own identity apart from Richard. English literature gave it working-class warmth: the cheeky manservant, the merchant's clever son, the man who'd rather laugh than bow.
The surname Rich (borne by the Tudor statesman Richard Rich, whose betrayal of Thomas More made him infamous) shows how thoroughly it detached from its root and stood alone. In American usage especially, Rich functioned as a standalone given name through the twentieth century, brisk and unadorned — a name with no pretension and no wasted syllables. Today Rich reads as confidently retro, a one-syllable name in the company of Jack and Ned.
It carries authenticity precisely because it lacks ornament. Parents drawn to it often value the same qualities: directness, a refusal to perform, strength without ceremony. The slight irony of naming a child 'Rich' in a complicated economy is not lost on modern parents, which makes it quietly amusing as well as genuinely handsome.