Head to head · Girls' names
Amora vs Reagan
#247 vs #248 in 2025
Amora is a whisker ahead (#247 vs #248 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Amora is climbing the charts fast, Reagan is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Amora and Reagan each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1950s: Amora —, Reagan #4837 — Reagan higher
- 1960s: Amora —, Reagan #3298 — Reagan higher
- 1970s: Amora —, Reagan #1738 — Reagan higher
- 1980s: Amora #10422, Reagan #1694 — Reagan higher
- 1990s: Amora #10806, Reagan #797 — Reagan higher
- 2000s: Amora #5304, Reagan #177 — Reagan higher
- 2010s: Amora #1064, Reagan #106 — Reagan higher
- 2020s: Amora #338, Reagan #175 — Reagan higher
Reagan stood higher in every recorded decade — 8 of 8.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Amora | Reagan |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | — | #4837 |
| 1960s | — | #3298 |
| 1970s | — | #1738 |
| 1980s | #10422 | #1694 |
| 1990s | #10806 | #797 |
| 2000s | #5304 | #177 |
| 2010s | #1064 | #106 |
| 2020s | #338 | #175 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Amora
From Latin/Spanish amor, "love" — though the identical Portuguese word amora means "blackberry, mulberry"
Two honest readings sit behind the same spelling. Read as a feminine formation on amor, it means love, and that is how it is most often understood in the US. But amora is also a plain noun in Portuguese and Spanish for the blackberry or mulberry, so a Portuguese speaker may hear the fruit before the feeling. Neither reading cancels the other.
amor (Latin) → amor / amora (Spanish and Portuguese) → Amora
How it traveled
The root is beyond dispute: Latin amor traveled into Spanish, Portuguese and Italian largely intact, and gave European naming a long line of love-words used as names. Amora itself, as a girl's name in the United States, has no deep paper trail — it appears in the records only in recent decades, with no single coiner or bearer to point to.
Reagan
descendant of Riagán — a name linked to Irish rí, "king"
The surname is straightforwardly "descendant of Riagán." What Riagán itself meant is where scholars part ways: one reading connects it to rí, "king," giving the popular gloss "little king"; another traces it to an Irish root for "impulsive" or "furious." Neither has won, and the surname's history is solid either way.
Riagán → Ó Riagáin → O'Regan → Regan → Reagan
How it traveled
Reagan is the anglicized spelling of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin, borne by families in medieval Ireland and spelled a dozen different ways once English clerks got hold of it — Regan, O'Regan, Ragan, Reagan. Irish emigration carried all those spellings to the United States, where Reagan became familiar as a family name long before anyone used it in front of one.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Amora
uh-MOR-uh
Spanish and Portuguese speakers say ah-MOR-ah, with a fuller first vowel. Both versions are heard in the US and neither needs correcting.
- Mora — The most natural clipping; also a standalone surname and word in Spanish.
- Ama — Informal family short form, taken from the front of the name.
- Ria — Informal; also used as a short form of Maria and Victoria, so it travels beyond this name.
- Amy — An English-speaking substitute rather than a true clipping; a long-established given name in its own right.
Reagan
RAY-gən
RAY-gən is the usual American pronunciation. REE-gən is also heard, and is closer to how the surname is often said in Ireland — worth deciding early, because both are defensible and people will guess.
- Rae — The most-used short form, and a given name in its own right for girls.
- Ray — The same sound with the older spelling; stands alone as a masculine given name.
- Reags — Informal, mostly among friends and siblings rather than family elders.
- Reggie — Occasional and playful; more commonly attaches to Reginald or Regina.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Amora if you want…
- a name on the way upup 116 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAmora runs 3 syllables, Reagan 2
Choose Reagan if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsReagan is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesReagan is 2 syllables to Amora's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Amora
Strengths
- Spells itself: a listener who hears it once can usually write it, in English or Spanish, without asking.
- Built on amor, a word recognized across Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Latin — the root carries wherever the family travels.
- Sits inside a familiar sound-family with Aurora, Amara and Amelia, so it registers as a known name rather than an unplaceable one.
To consider
- It is rising quickly. A child named Amora now may well share the name with a classmate or two by high school, even though that is unlikely in her first years of school.
- Aurora, Amara and Amaya crowd the same space in the ear. Expect a fair number of gentle corrections over a lifetime.
- A name that plainly says "love" invites comment — sweet remarks from strangers, and occasionally teasing from other children. Some families like that openness; others find it a lot to carry on a form.
Reagan
Strengths
- The spelling is already familiar to most Americans from the surname, so it is rarely questioned in writing.
- Rae and Ray are established short forms, both of which work on their own as names.
- A surname-name, so it sits comfortably on a boy or a girl without needing explanation.
To consider
- In the United States the surname belongs first to a twentieth-century president, and plenty of people hold firm views about that era in either direction. Most will not comment; some will.
- Raegan, Regan and Ragan all circulate, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often, and expect the occasional REE-gən from someone reading it cold.
- The variant spelling Regan belongs to one of King Lear's ruthless daughters and to the possessed child in The Exorcist. Those associations follow that spelling more than this one, but a well-read stranger may make the leap.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Amora and Reagan in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Amora and Reagan?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Valentine names with love in them
- Names ending in -ra
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Presidential surnames as first names
- all guides
Where Amora and Reagan each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Amora or Reagan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Amora or Reagan?
- Amora, in 2025: Amora ranked #247 with 1,259 babies; Reagan ranked #248 with 1,244 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Amora or Reagan?
- Amora. Over the last five years Amora moved up 116 places; Reagan moved down 134 places.
- Which is the older name, Amora or Reagan?
- Amora entered the US charts in 1984; Reagan entered the US charts in 1956. On the American record, Reagan is the older name.
- How many people are named Amora and Reagan?
- About 9,400 people named Amora are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 65,000 people named Reagan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Amoras or Reagans in the classroom?
- Amora will almost certainly be the only one in school. Reagan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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