Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic Raginmund or Reginmund. "Ragin" (Old German) and "regin" (Gothic) meant "counsel." The Old High German "mund" originally meant "hand," but came to mean "protection." This etymology suggests that the name originated in the Early Middle Ages.
Despite the German and French origins of the English name, some of its early uses in English documents appear in Latinized form. As a surname, its first recorded appearance in Britain appeared in 1086, during the reign of William the Conqueror, in the Domesday Book, with a reference to Giraldus Reimundus.
The most commonly used names for baby boys based on "ragin" in 2009 were, in descending order, Raymond, Ramiro, Rayner, Rein, Reingard, Reynard, and Reynold. Its many other variants include Raiment, Raimo, Raimond, Raimondi, Raimondo, Raimund, Raimundo, Ramon, Ramón, Ramond, Ramondelli, Ramondenc, Ramondi, Ramondini, Ramondino, Ramondo, Ramondou, Ramonenc, Ramonic, Ramundi, Rayment, Raymonenc, Raymonencq, Raymont, Raymund, Redmond, Redmonds, Reim, Reimund, Reinmund, Rémon, Rémond, Remondeau, Remondon, Rémont, Reymond, Rimondi, and Rimondini.
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Young Turk. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare, released in 1999. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his Platinum debut album Tha Block Is Hot, selling over one million copies in the U.S.
Although his next two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold status), Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with Tha Carter, which included the single "Go D.J." Wayne also appeared on the Destiny's Child top ten single "Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R&B singles. His most successful album, Tha Carter III, was released in 2008 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. its first week of release. It included the number-one single "Lollipop" featuring Static Major. It also includes the singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" featuring T-Pain and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.