Head to head · Girls' names
Reagan vs Rory
#248 vs #230 in 2025
Rory is a whisker ahead (#230 vs #248 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Rory 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
On the charts, Rory leads 4 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
- 1940s: Reagan —, Rory #1415 — Rory higher
- 1950s: Reagan #4837, Rory #2478 — Rory higher
- 1960s: Reagan #3298, Rory #3833 — Reagan higher
- 1970s: Reagan #1738, Rory #2471 — Reagan higher
- 1980s: Reagan #1694, Rory #2799 — Reagan higher
- 1990s: Reagan #797, Rory #3234 — Reagan higher
- 2000s: Reagan #177, Rory #1178 — Reagan higher
- 2010s: Reagan #106, Rory #760 — Reagan higher
- 2020s: Reagan #175, Rory #336 — Reagan higher
Reagan stood higher in 7 of 9 decades; Reagan has held the lead since the 1960s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Reagan | Rory |
|---|---|---|
| 1940s | — | #1415 |
| 1950s | #4837 | #2478 |
| 1960s | #3298 | #3833 |
| 1970s | #1738 | #2471 |
| 1980s | #1694 | #2799 |
| 1990s | #797 | #3234 |
| 2000s | #177 | #1178 |
| 2010s | #106 | #760 |
| 2020s | #175 | #336 |
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
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.
Rory
red king
From the Old Irish elements ruadh, "red" or "red-haired", and rí, "king" — often rendered "red-haired king".
Ruaidrí → Ruaidhrí → Ruairidh → Rory
How it traveled
The name begins as Ruaidrí in Old Irish, a compound of "red" and "king", and it was borne by the last High King of Ireland in the twelfth century, before the Norman arrival reshaped the island. Irish spelling settled on Ruaidhrí and Scottish Gaelic on Ruairidh, and when clerks and emigrants wrote those sounds in English they produced Rory.
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
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.
Rory
ROR-ee
Rhymes with story; stress on the first syllable. The Irish Ruaidhrí and Gaelic Ruairidh are closer to ROO-ə-ree, which can surprise people meeting the older spellings for the first time.
- Rory — Already short; most bearers use the full name in every setting, formal and informal.
- Ro — Family-level shortening, used mostly by parents and siblings rather than on paper.
- Rors — Informal, chiefly among friends and teammates.
- Rory (as a short form) — Also used as an informal nickname for longer names such as Aurora and Rosemary, mainly for girls.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Reagan if you want…
- a name fewer children share#248 in 2025 — reagan will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name past its most crowded yearsReagan is stepping back from its peak
Choose Rory if you want…
- a name most people already know#230 in 2025, 1,332 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 228 places on the charts in five years
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
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.
Rory
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and spelled the way it sounds for English speakers — rarely needs repeating on the phone.
- Already a complete name at two syllables, with no long formal version anyone will insist on.
- Recognized across Ireland, Scotland, England and the US, so it crosses borders without translation.
To consider
- It leans to boys in American records but is genuinely given to girls too, so a daughter named Rory may meet forms and teachers that assume otherwise. Easy to correct, but it will come up more than once.
- The trajectory is upward. A Rory born now is unlikely to share the name in a classroom, but the name will be more familiar by the time they are grown than it is today.
- Two r-sounds close together make it one of the later names a child learns to say cleanly, and it can be misheard as Cory, Tory or Laurie in noisy rooms.
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 Reagan and Rory 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 Reagan and Rory?
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
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Presidential surnames as first names
- Names ending in -en / -an / -on
- Short and sweet: names of four letters or fewer
- all guides
Where Reagan and Rory each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Reagan or Rory — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Reagan or Rory?
- Rory, in 2025: Rory ranked #230 with 1,332 babies; Reagan ranked #248 with 1,244 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Reagan or Rory?
- Rory. Over the last five years Reagan moved down 134 places; Rory moved up 228 places.
- Which is the older name, Reagan or Rory?
- Reagan entered the US charts in 1956; Rory entered the US charts in 1947. On the American record, Rory is the older name.
- How many people are named Reagan and Rory?
- About 65,000 people named Reagan are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 13,500 people named Rory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Reagans or Rorys in the classroom?
- Reagan will almost certainly be the only one in school. Rory 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Reagan, Rory and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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