Reid

About Reid

Reid is a Scottish surname name meaning red, originally connected with a descriptive nickname. Its single syllable and four-letter spelling give it a compact form. Astronaut Reid Wiseman and entrepreneur Reid Hoffman provide especially recognizable modern bearers in space exploration and technology.

Meaning and surname history

Reid is a Scots form of the surname represented in English by Reed. That surname developed from Old English read, meaning red, and was originally used for someone with red hair or a ruddy complexion.

The modern given name preserves the surname spelling. Reed is its closest everyday alternative, with the same English pronunciation.

The surname meaning is separate from the English plant word reed. Reid's route into personal naming is through the older descriptive family name.

Reid Wiseman

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman served aboard the International Space Station in 2014. His mission lasted 165 days, during which his crew completed more than three hundred scientific experiments.

The research covered subjects including human physiology, physical science, Earth science, and astrophysics. His spaceflight therefore involved sustained laboratory work as well as the operation of an orbiting spacecraft.

NASA later named him commander of the Artemis II crew, alongside Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The crew announcement placed his first name before another large international audience.

Wiseman gives Reid a connection with both long-duration space-station work and the Artemis program, rather than only one isolated launch or mission assignment.

Reid Hoffman

Entrepreneur Reid Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn in 2003. The professional networking service became a major example of using online connections to organize working lives and business relationships.

Before LinkedIn, Hoffman served as an executive vice president at PayPal. He joined the investment firm Greylock in 2009, bringing his experience with online networks into early-stage investing.

His academic background includes symbolic systems at Stanford and philosophy at Oxford. He has also written books including The Start-up of You and Blitzscaling and hosted the podcast Masters of Scale.

The combination of company building, investing, and public writing makes Hoffman a substantial technology-associated bearer of the short first name.

Pronunciation and written form

Reid is pronounced REED, one syllable rhyming with “seed.” The two written vowels combine into a single long ee sound.

Reed changes the appearance while preserving the sound. Reid's ei spelling is particularly recognizable within the Scottish surname tradition.

The name is already shorter than many familiar forms of longer names. Its prominent bearers use the complete Reid in professional settings.

American popularity

Reid's best American boys' rank was 259 in 2013. Its largest annual count followed in 2014, with 1,432 births.

There were 545 boys named Reid in 2000 and 1,150 in 2025, when it ranked 293. Girls have also received the spelling in smaller numbers, including thirty-four in 2025. Its recent American use has been substantially more common for boys.

How popular is Reid?

In 2025, Reid ranked #293 among boys in the United States, with 1,150 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1886; its largest annual count was 1,432 in 2014. 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.