Rena
Feminine · “joyful song”
Rena is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 39,124 girls against 123 boys since 1880.
Rena is an ending used alone, and it has parents in three languages: the back of Irene or Serena in English, a Hebrew word for joyful song, and the Italian Serena.
How old is the name Rena?
Rena was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Rena alive today was born around 1945, making them about 80 years old. About 20,000 people named Rena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rena most popular?
Rena peaked in 1881, reaching #153 nationally. Today it ranks #2387, 2,234 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Irene to Rena
The story of Rena
Nineteenth and twentieth-century American naming used shared endings freely, and -ena and -ina names were plentiful: Irene, Serena, Verena, Lorena. Rena appears in the registers from the 1880s as a name in its own right. Separately, Hebrew Rina is an ordinary Israeli name, and Jewish-American families used Rena for it. American use peaked around 1920.
Meaningscholars disagree
joyful song; peace; serene
The Hebrew rina means 'joyful song' or 'rejoicing', and Rena is a genuine modern Hebrew name on that basis. Read as a clipping of Irene it is the Greek eirene, 'peace'; of Serena, the Latin serenus, 'calm'. All three are real and the registers do not distinguish them.
How the name formed
- Irene
- Rena
Related forms: Rina · Rena · Irene
Pronouncing Rena
REE-nuh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some families said RAY-nuh instead; both are recorded.
Nicknames for Rena
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1916573 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #153reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- +1.4%75 in 2025, from 74
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.
Rena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rina in Hebrew — related form
- Rena in Italian — same name
- Irene in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, California.
Renas among us
people named Rena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 21,430 born in 2025 was named Rena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rena
- #2387
- Rena on the 2025 chart
- #837
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rena went to 75 girls in 2025, but Renna and Reena are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 123, which makes it the 837th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,550 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 13,067 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 21,430 for Rena 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
Fashion outlook
Rena 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 Rena is headed
Rena 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.
Rena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- All three possible parents carry attractive meanings — song, peace and calm.
- It is a living name in Hebrew and Italian as well as English.
- Four letters, two syllables, and easy for a child to write early.
- The origin is split across unrelated languages.
- Two pronunciations are recorded in American use.
- It is period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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Rena
Feminine · #2387 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Renas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 20,000 people named Rena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rena?
- Rena is the most-used spelling in US records — 75 of the 123 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Renna and Reena.
- How popular is the name Rena in 2025?
- Rena ranks #2387 among US girl names in 2025, with 75 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rena?
- About 1 in every 21,430 US girls born in 2025 was named Rena — 75 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rena with classmates?
- Rena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maiya#2387 · Yana#2387 · Eviana#2387 · Dora#2387 · Shannon#2387 · Mariyah#2387 · Jeanette#2387 · Suzanne#2387
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rena? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rena and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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