Rea
Feminine · “Flow”
Rea is given to both — 1,873 girls and 190 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Rea is three letters serving several names. It is a spelling of Rhea, the Titaness who was mother to Zeus; it is a Slovak, Italian and Greek surname; and in the American records of 1910 it is very often simply a short form of Andrea or of Rachel written down as a full name.
How old is the name Rea?
Rea first appears in US birth records in 1892 — 133 years ago. The typical Rea alive today was born around 1958, making them about 67 years old. About 1,200 people named Rea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rea most popular?
Rea peaked in 1910, reaching #1069 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 4,169 places below that high. See the whole 1910 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Rheia to Rea
The story of Rea
Rhea was one of the Titans, sister and wife of Cronus, and the mother who hid the infant Zeus on Crete and gave her husband a stone to swallow instead. The Romans identified her with Cybele, the great mother of Asia Minor, and Rhea Silvia in their own foundation story is the mother of Romulus and Remus. The name has been used quietly in English since the classical revival. Rea, without the h, appears in American records from the late nineteenth century and peaks around 1910, in the same period as Ora, Ola, Elva and Iva — short vowel-heavy women's names that the era produced in quantity and that were as often clippings as classical borrowings.
Meaningscholars disagree
Flow, or earth, if from Rhea
Greek Rheia, the Titaness, has no settled etymology: derivations from rheō, to flow, and from era, earth, are both ancient and neither is proved — the flow reading is already a guess made by Greek writers themselves. As a spelling, Rea also serves as a short form of Andrea, Aurea and Dorothea, and as an Italian and Slovak surname. Which of these applies to a given bearer the record does not say.
How the name formed
- Rheia
- Rhea
- Rea
Related forms: Ῥέα · Rhea · Rea · Reja
Pronouncing Rea
REE-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first, identical to Rhea. Italian says REH-ah with a shorter first vowel, and some American bearers use RAY-uh.
Nicknames for Rea
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1892
- Most girls named
- 195829 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1069reached in 1910
- Change vs 2022
- +4.3%24 in 2025, from 23
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Rea in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ῥέα in Greek — transliteration
- Rhea in English — spelling variant
- Rea in Italian — same name
- Reja in Slovene — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Connecticut.
Reas among us
people named Rea are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Rea
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rea
- #5238
- Rea on the 2025 chart
- #925
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rea went to 24 girls in 2025, but Reah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 35, which makes it the 925th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,313 places above the chart.
- Rea24
- Reah11
About 1 girl in 45,922 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 66,969 for Rea itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Rea sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Rea beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rea in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters is about as short as a name can be.
- It has a genuine classical namesake in one of the Titans.
- It is spelled the same in several European languages.
- Rhea is the standard spelling and will be written for it constantly.
- Rea, Ria, Rhea and Reya are four spellings of nearly one sound.
- The meaning of the Greek name was already disputed in antiquity.
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What they receive
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Rea
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Reas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Rea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rea?
- Rea is the most-used spelling in US records — 24 of the 35 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Reah.
- How popular is the name Rea in 2025?
- Rea ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rea?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Rea — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rea with classmates?
- Rea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rea
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rea? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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