The term rand has several possible meanings:

• in South Africa:
  • rand is an afrikaans word for ridge, and Witwatersrand (literally white water Ridge) was the name given to a ridge that ran through Gauteng; the gold-producing reef ran parallel with this ridge, and the mining areas east and west of Johannesburg became known as the East and West Rands
  • the Rand thus became the word for South Africa's currency (see also Krugerrand)
• Rand is a small town in Australia
• Rand is a small village in Lincolnshire, U.K.
• Rand is a small unincorporated community in Jackson County, Colorado in the United States
• People named Rand include:
  • Ayn Rand, American writer
  • Austin L. Rand, Canadian zoologist
  • Rand al'Thor, the main character in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series
  • a character from Robotech New Generation sage
  • Ivan Rand, Supreme Court of Canada justice who introduced the Rand formula in labor law

• RAND or Rand is also used as an abbreviation or acronym of:
  • the phrase “Research ANd Development” in the name of the RAND Corporation
  • Reasonable and Non Discriminatory Licensing
  • any of a number of pseudorandom number generators functions
  • the name “Randall”