Rece
Masculine · “Welsh Rhys”
Rece is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 522 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Respellings almost never make a name shorter. The whole direction of American respelling is toward more letters: extra vowels, doubled consonants, silent h. Rece is the rare exception. Rhys has five letters, Reece has five, Reese has five, and Rece has four, which makes it the only member of the family that took something away.
How old is the name Rece?
Rece first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Rece alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 500 people named Rece are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rece most popular?
Rece peaked in 2002, reaching #2092 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 6,151 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Where it comes from
From Rhys to Rece
The story of Rece
The Welsh rh is a voiceless r, made by letting air through with no voice, and English does not have it. English speakers hear it as an ordinary r and drop the h, which is why Rhys became Reese and Rhiannon is said with a plain r. The vowel is the other difficulty: Welsh y in a final syllable is said like the ee of see, so Rhys rhymes with geese, but an English reader meeting the spelling has no reason to know that and may try to say it with a short i. Reece and Reese solve that by writing the vowel the English way. Rece goes one step further and drops the doubled vowel too, relying on the final e to do the lengthening, which is a legitimate English spelling pattern: it is the same e that turns hop into hope. It peaks in 2002.
Meaning
Welsh Rhys, ardor or enthusiasm
From the Welsh Rhys, usually read as ardor, fire or enthusiasm. It was borne by several medieval Welsh princes, notably Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth in the twelfth century, and gave the surname Rees and the fused patronymic Price, from ap Rhys. Rece is a modern American respelling; it has no separate origin and is not used in Wales.
How the name formed
- Rhys
- Reece
- Rece
Related forms: Rhys · Reece · Reese
Pronouncing Rece
reess
One syllable, rhyming with peace. The final e is silent and marks the long vowel, the same way it does in these and geese. The Welsh Rhys has a voiceless initial r that English speakers replace with an ordinary one.
Nicknames for Rece
Limited
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
- 1995
- Most boys named
- 200251 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2092reached in 2002
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%9 in 2025, from 6
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.
Rece in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rhys in Welsh — same name
- Reece in English — spelling variant
- Reese in English — spelling variant
Reces among us
people named Rece are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Rece
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rece
- #8243
- Rece on the 2025 chart
- #286
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rece went to 9 boys in 2025, but Reece and Reese are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 1,159, which makes it the 286th most-given boys’ name of the year — 7,957 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 1,474 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 189,786 for Rece 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
The Rankin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rece's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rankin climbed just as high around 1913, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rankin's path sketches the road Rece is walking now.
Rece 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
Rece beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rece in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is four letters and reads correctly at first sight.
- The Welsh meaning is settled and vivid.
- One syllable pairs easily with any second name.
- Reece and Reese are both far more common.
- Reese is now more often given to girls in the United States.
- The Welsh spelling is unrecognizable to most English readers.
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What they receive
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Rece
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Reces are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Rece are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rece?
- Rece is one of 3 recorded spellings. Reece is the more common one — 675 births in 2025 against 9 for Rece.
- How popular is the name Rece in 2025?
- Rece ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rece?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Rece — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rece with classmates?
- Rece will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rece
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rece? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rece and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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