Reed
Feminine · “Old English "red”
Reed is given to boys far more often — 36,056 boys against 921 girls since 1880. See Reed as a boy name
Red hair produced more surnames than almost any other feature. Reed, Read and Reid in English; Rufus and Russell, the little red one, from Latin; Roth in German; Rousseau in French; Flynn from Irish Ó Floinn, the ruddy. Europe named people by their coloring, and red won.
How old is the name Reed?
Reed first appears in US birth records in 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Reed alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 900 people named Reed are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Reed most popular?
Reed peaked in 1996, reaching #2476 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 5,015 places below that high. See the whole 1996 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From rēad to Reed
The story of Reed
Hereditary surnames formed in England between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, and a large share of them started as descriptions: color of hair, size, temperament. Red-haired bynames are unusually common because red hair is distinctive and relatively rare, and every European language produced its own: French Rousseau and Leroux, Italian Rossi, which is the most common surname in Italy, German Roth, Spanish Rojo, Irish Flynn and Reddy, Welsh Gough and Coch. Reed became an American given name in the surname-name pattern, used mainly for boys; the female figures peak in 1996.
Meaning
Old English "red" — a byname for red hair or complexion
From Old English rēad, red, used as a descriptive byname and then a hereditary surname. The English spellings Reed, Read, Reade and Reid all descend from it, the variation reflecting different regional pronunciations frozen at different dates. The plant name reed is a separate Old English word, hrēod, and is unrelated to the surname.
How the name formed
- rēad
- Reed
Related forms: Reid · Read
Pronouncing Reed
reed
One syllable, rhyming with need. Reed, Reid and Read are all pronounced the same way in modern English, though the spellings preserve older regional differences.
Nicknames for Reed
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
- 1921
- Most girls named
- 199651 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2476reached in 1996
- Change vs 2024
- −36.4%14 in 2025, from 22
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.
Reed in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Reid in English — spelling variant
- Read in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Reeds among us
people named Reed are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Reed
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 Tovah test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Reed's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tovah climbed just as high around 1979, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tovah's path sketches the road Reed is walking now.
Reed 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
Reed beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Reed in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters, impossible to mispronounce.
- The meaning is settled and concrete.
- It works equally well for either sex.
- In America it reads as a male name in most contexts.
- Reid and Read are competing spellings.
- It is identical in sound to the verb read in the past tense.
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What they receive
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Reed
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Reeds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Reed are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Reed in 2025?
- Reed ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Reed?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Reed — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Reed with classmates?
- Reed will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Reed
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Reed? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Reed and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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