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Regan

#2,295 in 2025UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Literary origin uncertain; also an Irish surname form

Regan has been given to 20,053 babies in the U.S. since 1946. In 2025 it ranked #2,295 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2001, with 747 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 81% girls, 19% boys all-time.

Babies named Regan, 2025

1 in 41,400

Regan over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Regan over time

In 2025, Regan went to 82% girls and 18% boys.

19202025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Regan: meaning, origin, and history

Literary origin uncertain; also an Irish surname form

British literary tradition and Irish surname

About Regan

Regan is a literary name with an uncertain meaning, best known as one of King Lear's daughters. It can also be used as a variant of the Irish surname-derived name Reagan. These routes overlap in modern spelling without providing one secure translation for every Regan.

Origins and pronunciation

The literary Regan appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's account of King Leir, before Shakespeare adapted the story for King Lear. Her name's deeper meaning is unknown. The character belongs to legendary British history rather than a securely documented royal family.

Reagan has a different route: it comes from the Irish surname Ó Riagáin, formed from the given name Riagán. Modern Regan can represent that surname family as well as the literary name. The two histories should be kept distinct.

The established English literary pronunciation is REE-gun, with stress at the beginning. Reagan and Raegan are close modern relatives in spelling, but individual pronunciation can vary.

Regan in King Lear

Regan is Lear's middle daughter and the wife of the Duke of Cornwall. At the start of the play, Lear asks his daughters to describe their love for him before he divides his kingdom. Regan and her older sister Goneril flatter him, while Cordelia refuses to exaggerate her feelings.

Lear disowns Cordelia, then discovers that the two daughters he rewarded will not treat him as he expected. Regan's actions help turn the apparent transfer of power into a tragedy of family, authority, and betrayal.

Her role gives the name a lasting place on the English stage. It is a major character association rather than a passing mention, and it long predates the name's modern American popularity.

Regan Smith

American swimmer Regan Smith gives the name a prominent contemporary sporting bearer. At the Paris Olympics in 2024 she won gold in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay and in the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay.

She also earned three individual silver medals in Paris: the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter backstroke, and 200-meter butterfly. Those results span two strokes and both individual and team racing.

Her earlier Olympic medals at Tokyo included silver in the 200-meter butterfly and women's medley relay, and bronze in the 100-meter backstroke. Her career supplies a substantial modern association alongside the much older Shakespearean character.

Popularity in the United States

Regan's largest recorded American birth count for girls came in 2001, with 747 births and a rank of No. 391. The count was 592 in 2000 and 390 in 2010, before falling to 80 in 2025.

For boys, the largest count was 89 in 1979. Seventeen boys received the name in 2025. The American record therefore includes both sexes, with the larger recent totals on the girls' side and a clear early-2000s high for that series.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Existing Wiktionary material is attributed under CC BY-SA 4.0 where applicable. Popularity figures use the local Social Security Administration exact-spelling series; name-sex-year counts below five are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How popular is Regan?

In 2025, Regan ranked #2,295 among girls in the United States, with 80 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1946; its largest annual count was 747 in 2001. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.

How common is Regan?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 41,400
80 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 20,100
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,295
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
28,725 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Regan sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 28,725 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Regan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Regans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Regan was born before 2001 — so the typical Regan is around 24 today.

Median birth year
2001
About 24 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
37.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
52.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
16,265
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 37.1% of all recorded uses (6,042).

Is Regan rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+65
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−570
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,271
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.31×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
10.7%
Peak was 2001 (747)
Years since peak
24
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
13.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#391
2001

Spellings of Regan

Regan is not the most common spelling — Jean is, with 27.6% against Regan's 0.98%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Regan is used — girls

Across 2016–2025, Regan was most concentrated in Ohio — about 1 in 6,250 girls, against 1 in 17,120 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in 100,000).

116 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Ohio1 in 6,250
  2. 2Iowa1 in 6,667
  3. 3Pennsylvania1 in 8,333
  4. 4Washington1 in 8,333
  5. 5Minnesota1 in 9,091
  6. 6Idaho1 in 12,500
  7. 7Michigan1 in 12,500
  8. 8Illinois1 in 14,286

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Where Regan is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Regan was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 137,557 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 50,000
  2. 2California1 in 100,000
  3. 3Colorado1 in 100,000
  4. 4Hawaii1 in 100,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in 100,000
  6. 6Louisiana1 in 100,000
  7. 7New York1 in 100,000
  8. 8Ohio1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Regan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Regan around the world

Where Regan ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #4,867
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1975–2015
    #806
    in 2015
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2019
    #424
    in 2019
  • Ireland
    1991–2022
    #634
    in 2022
  • Canada
    1991–2023
    #2,973
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1966–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Regan

People whose public names include Regan, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Regan by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,295
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 570
Best rank ever
#391
2001
Peak year
2001
747 that year
First recorded
1946
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
16,307
Count in 2025
80

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,557
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,772
Best rank ever
#822
1964
Peak year
1979
89 that year
First recorded
1920
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,746
Count in 2025
17

Names similar to Regan

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

LoganTeganRaeganTeaganReginaReaganRaganKeeganRegenaMaeganTeeganReggieMeaganKeaganMaganTeiganRegineReginaeMeganRegeniaMorganTaeganRayganRaigan

Names with a curve like Regan

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Regan, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AyannaJaquelineKierstenCarlieYasminEmileeYasminePaolaPerlaGillianKaleighCarley

Sibling names for Regan

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Regan

Top names of 2001, Regan's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2001Girls' names starting with R