Reagan
Feminine · “descendant of Riagán”
Reagan is given to both — 65,739 girls and 7,841 boys since 1880. See Reagan as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Reagan began as an Irish surname, Ó Riagáin, carried out of Ireland by emigrant families and later handed back as a first name by American parents. It has the easy two-beat shape of Logan and Rowan, and it comes with one of the shortest nicknames going: Rae.
How old is the name Reagan?
Reagan first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Reagan alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 65,000 people named Reagan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Reagan most popular?
Reagan peaked in 2012, reaching #97 nationally. Today it ranks #248, 151 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Reagan appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Riagán to Reagan
The story of Reagan
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. It crossed over to first-name use the way Ryan, Kennedy and Sullivan did, and in American records it is now given mostly to girls, though it still goes to boys as well.
Meaningscholars disagree
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.
How the name formed
- Riagán
- Ó Riagáin
- O'Regan
- Regan
- Reagan
Related forms: Ó Riagáin · Riagán · Regan · Raegan · Ragan · Reagen
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Reagan
High
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
- 1956
- Most girls named
- 20163,097 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #97reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −4.1%1,244 in 2025, from 1,297
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.
Reagan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Riagáin in Irish — related form
- Riagán in Irish — related form
- Regan in English — spelling variant
- Raegan in English — spelling variant
- Ragan in English — spelling variant
- Reagen in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Reagans among us
people named Reagan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,292 born in 2025 was named Reagan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Angelica test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Reagan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Angelica climbed just as high around 1996, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Angelica's path sketches the road Reagan is walking now.
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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Reagan is headed
Reagan is easing off slowly — about 25% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Reagan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Reagan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- Two syllables with a clean ending — it pairs easily with most surnames and carries over the noise of a playground.
- 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.
- It reads as a girl's name in current American use, so a boy called Reagan will meet some assumptions on paper before he walks in the room.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Reagan to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Reagan
Feminine · #248 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Reagans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 65,000 people named Reagan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Reagan in 2025?
- Reagan ranks #248 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,244 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Reagan?
- About 1 in every 1,292 US girls born in 2025 was named Reagan — 1,244 in all.
- Will my child share the name Reagan with classmates?
- Reagan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Reagan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rowan#249 · Amora#247 · Miriam#246 · Rachel#250 · Ana#245 · Rosemary#251 · Lilly#252 · Diana#244
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Reagan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Reagan and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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