Head to head · Girls' names
Rachel vs Reagan
#250 vs #248 in 2025
Reagan is a whisker ahead (#248 vs #250 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Reagan is stepping back from its peak, Rachel is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Rachel has the edge.
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
On the charts, Rachel leads 3 measures of 6; Reagan leads 2.
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
- 1880s: Rachel #121, Reagan — — Rachel higher
- 1890s: Rachel #135, Reagan — — Rachel higher
- 1900s: Rachel #149, Reagan — — Rachel higher
- 1910s: Rachel #151, Reagan — — Rachel higher
- 1920s: Rachel #162, Reagan — — Rachel higher
- 1930s: Rachel #162, Reagan — — Rachel higher
- 1940s: Rachel #177, Reagan — — Rachel higher
- 1950s: Rachel #191, Reagan #4837 — Rachel higher
- 1960s: Rachel #153, Reagan #3298 — Rachel higher
- 1970s: Rachel #36, Reagan #1738 — Rachel higher
- 1980s: Rachel #18, Reagan #1694 — Rachel higher
- 1990s: Rachel #14, Reagan #797 — Rachel higher
- 2000s: Rachel #44, Reagan #177 — Rachel higher
- 2010s: Rachel #155, Reagan #106 — Reagan higher
- 2020s: Rachel #243, Reagan #175 — Reagan higher
Rachel stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Reagan has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Rachel | Reagan |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #121 | — |
| 1890s | #135 | — |
| 1900s | #149 | — |
| 1910s | #151 | — |
| 1920s | #162 | — |
| 1930s | #162 | — |
| 1940s | #177 | — |
| 1950s | #191 | #4837 |
| 1960s | #153 | #3298 |
| 1970s | #36 | #1738 |
| 1980s | #18 | #1694 |
| 1990s | #14 | #797 |
| 2000s | #44 | #177 |
| 2010s | #155 | #106 |
| 2020s | #243 | #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
Rachel
ewe
Hebrew, and unusually concrete: the word means a female sheep. Pastoral names of that kind are common in the same text and the sense has never been disputed.
Rachel → Rahel
How it traveled
She does one thing in the story that readers rarely notice. Leaving her father's house for good, she takes the household gods with her — the small figures that carried a family's authority and possibly its inheritance rights — and when he catches up and searches the camp, she is sitting on them in the camel's saddle and tells him she cannot get up because she is menstruating.
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
Rachel
RAY-chul
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Hebrew and most European languages put it on the second and give the ch a harder value.
- Rae — The front of the name; a complete name in its own right.
- Shelly — Built from the back; a standing name and considerably softer.
- Rach — Blunt and clipped; used mostly by friends.
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.
One short form, two names
- Rachel and Reagan both shorten to Rae.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Who has carried each name
Rachel
Rachel Carson (b. 1907) — Silent Spring launched the modern environmental movement
Rachel McAdams (b. 1978) — Mean Girls and The Notebook star
Rachel Weisz (b. 1970) — Oscar winner (The Constant Gardener)
Reagan
No documented entry for Reagan yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Rachel if you want…
- a long American recordRachel was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 25% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 66% for Reagan
Choose Reagan if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsReagan is stepping back from its peak
- a newer arrivalReagan entered the US charts in 1956
- a name that feels very nowReagan is stepping back from its peak
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
Rachel
Strengths
- It is ancient, universally recognized and carried in every European language.
- The meaning is concrete and gentle rather than abstract.
- Rae sits inside it as a short form that stands entirely alone.
To consider
- Its peak was recent enough and large enough to date the name to a decade.
- Rachael and Rachelle are both in use and the spelling occasionally gets queried.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
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.
How each is likely to age
Rachel
25%chance Rachel feels dated by 2040
Rachel peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
Reagan
66%chance Reagan feels dated by 2040
Reagan is coming down from a big peak (#97 in 2012). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Rachel 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 Rachel 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 head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names of the '80s and '90s, currently resting
- Generation X names (born 1965–1980)
- Millennial names (born 1981–1996)
- Generation Z names (born 1997–2012)
- all guides
Where Rachel and Reagan each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Rachel or Reagan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Rachel or Reagan?
- Reagan, in 2025: Reagan ranked #248 with 1,244 babies; Rachel ranked #250 with 1,225 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Rachel or Reagan?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Rachel moved down 24 places; Reagan moved down 134 places.
- Which is the older name, Rachel or Reagan?
- Rachel was already in use when US records began in 1880; Reagan entered the US charts in 1956. On the American record, Rachel is the older name.
- How many people are named Rachel and Reagan?
- About 510,000 people named Rachel are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 65,000 people named Reagan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Rachel and Reagan share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Rae, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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