Rehan
Masculine · “sweet basil”
Rehan is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,460 boys against 28 girls since 1880.
Rehan is sweet basil. Arabic rayhan names the aromatic herb, and the Qur'an lists it among the things of paradise — which gives an ordinary kitchen plant an unusually elevated position.
How old is the name Rehan?
Rehan first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Rehan alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 1,400 people named Rehan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rehan most popular?
Rehan peaked in 2008, reaching #1813 nationally. Today it ranks #3089, 1,276 places below that high. See the whole 2008 chart.
Where it comes from
From rayhan to Rehan
The story of Rehan
Basil grows across the Mediterranean and Iran and has been used for cooking, medicine and scent for a very long time; Arabic gave it a name that also serves for fragrance generally. The Qur'anic mention put the word into a religious register, and it became a given name across the Arabic-speaking world and, through Persian, in Iran, Pakistan and northern India. Rehan is the spelling that reaches United States records most often, chiefly from South Asian families.
Meaning
sweet basil; a fragrant herb
Arabic rayhan means sweet basil and, more generally, any fragrant plant, from a root about scent and about mercy — the same root gives rahma. It appears in the Qur'an among the provisions of paradise. The reading is documented and undisputed. Rehan is a Persian and Urdu spelling of the same word.
How the name formed
- rayhan
- Rehan
Related forms: Rayhan · Rehan · Reyhan · Reyhan
Pronouncing Rehan
reh-HAHN
Two syllables with the stress on the second and the h fully sounded between them. English speakers often say REE-han, giving the first vowel a long e and moving the stress.
Nicknames for Rehan
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
- 1974
- Most boys named
- 200881 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1813reached in 2008
- Change vs 2024
- +2.6%39 in 2025, from 38
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.
Rehan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rayhan in Arabic — transliteration
- Rehan in Urdu — same name
- Reyhan in Turkish — spelling variant
- Reyhan in Persian — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas.
Rehans among us
people named Rehan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 43,797 born in 2025 was named Rehan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rehan
- #3089
- Rehan on the 2025 chart
- #879
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rehan went to 39 boys in 2025, but Rehaan is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 49, which makes it the 879th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,210 places above the chart.
- Rehan39
- Rehaan10
About 1 boy in 34,859 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 43,797 for Rehan 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 Delray test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rehan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Delray climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Delray's path sketches the road Rehan is walking now.
Rehan 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
Where Rehan is headed
Rehan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Rehan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rehan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A concrete meaning — an actual plant — with a documented religious presence behind it.
- Five letters, no silent ones, and readable at first sight in English.
- Recognized across Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu without explanation.
- Rehan, Rayhan, Reyhan and Raihan are all standard in different countries.
- In Turkish, Reyhan is usually a woman's name, which comes up in mixed settings.
- The middle h is easily lost by English speakers, which flattens the name.
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What they receive
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Rehan
Masculine · #3089 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rehans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Rehan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rehan?
- Rehan is the most-used spelling in US records — 39 of the 49 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Rehaan.
- How popular is the name Rehan in 2025?
- Rehan ranks #3089 among US boy names in 2025, with 39 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rehan?
- About 1 in every 43,797 US boys born in 2025 was named Rehan — 39 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rehan with classmates?
- Rehan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rehan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zaedyn#3089 · Cree#3089 · Aadi#3089 · Leopoldo#3089 · Wynston#3089 · Saxon#3089 · Braelyn#3089 · Yaqub#3089
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rehan? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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