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Regine

Feminine · “queen”

1915high 1994
Rare todaygiven to only a few children a year
rare

Regine comes from the Latin word for a queen, and the word was a title long before it was a name. Regina appears on Roman inscriptions as a description and in the church as an epithet for the Virgin, and it became a personal name by the ordinary route of a title used often enough that somebody gave it to a daughter.

How old is the name Regine?

Regine first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Regine alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 1,300 people named Regine are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Regine most popular?

Regine peaked in 1994, reaching #1048 nationally. See the whole 1994 chart.

I

Where it comes from

The story of Regine

The word is one of the oldest in the Indo-European stock and its relatives are everywhere: the Latin for a king, the Sanskrit for one, the Irish word, the German word for a realm, and the English word right, all descend from a root about ruling and about straightness, which are the same idea in that language. Latin used the feminine as a title, medieval Latin used it in the litanies for the Virgin, and the litanies are where most people met it: a long list of titles, sung, of which several became women's names across Catholic Europe. This is one of the plainest of them, and the French form is the one that reached America with Belgian and French-Canadian families.

Meaning

queen

The Latin noun for a queen, feminine of the word for a king, and the reading is settled and unusually direct. The French form drops the a and moves the stress to the back, which is what French does to Latin words generally, so the two forms are the same word with two centuries of sound change between them.

How the name formed

  1. A Latin word for a queen, from an ancient root about ruling
  2. Used as a title and in the litanies of the Virgin
  3. Becoming a personal name across Catholic Europe
  4. Regine as the French form in American use

Related forms: Regine · Regina · Regine

Pronouncing Regine

ray-ZHEEN

Two syllables with the stress at the back in French, and a soft g. American families often say ruh-JEEN with an English j, and both are in genuine use here; the German form is different again, with three syllables.

Nicknames for Regine

Moderate

GinaCut from the back, and a complete name in its own right
ReggieUnisex and warm, and shared with several men's names
ReeThe front softened, minimal and thoroughly modern-sounding
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What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1915–2025174870174519152022

US babies named Regine per year from 1915 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#10481910s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1915
Most girls named
1994174 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1048reached in 1994
Change vs 2019
0.0%5 in 2022, from 5
Regine sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 1994, with 174 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Regine in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Regine in French — same name
  • Regina in Latin — related form
  • Regine in German — same name

Regines among us

1,300

people named Regine are estimated to be alive in the US today

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

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Is it right for you

Fashion outlook

Regine sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.

Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • The meaning is short, clear and about as grand as a meaning gets.
  • Gina and Reggie are two very different short forms and both stand alone.
  • It is used unchanged in French and German, which is a wide range.
What to consider
  • The g is said two ways depending on which tradition a family follows.
  • It will be written Regina or Regene by people taking it from speech.
  • The meaning is a title, which is a substantial thing to hand a child.

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Regine

Feminine

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Frequently asked

How many Regines are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Regine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How popular is the name Regine in 2025?
Regine is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
Will my child share the name Regine with classmates?
Regine will almost certainly be the only one in school.

More R names

The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.

Ruth#173 · Rebecca#349 · Rachel#250 · Rose#114 · Ruby#64 · Robin#704 · Rita#1285 · Rhonda#6116

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Regine? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Regine and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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