Rena

About Rena

Rena has two established naming histories: a Latin-rooted form meaning “born again” and a Hebrew name meaning “joy.” Its four-letter spelling can therefore connect with different longer names and traditions. Holocaust survivor and educator Rena Quint and actor Rena Sofer provide notable modern bearers.

Latin and Hebrew routes

The Latin family leads back to Renatus, meaning “born again.” Rena is a feminine form within the group that includes René, Renata, Renate, and Renee. Renie is an established familiar form.

Hebrew Rena has a separate origin. Written רִנָּה, it means “joy” and can also be spelled Rina or Rinah. The same Roman-letter form thus represents two names whose meanings developed independently.

REE-nah is one familiar pronunciation, though bearers also use other readings, including REH-nah. The short spelling does not resolve those differences on its own. In either reading it has two syllables, with the stronger beat at the beginning.

Renee and Renata make the Latin connection more visible, while Rina and Rinah preserve the Hebrew relationship. Rena can stand as a complete name within either tradition.

Rena Quint and remembered history

Rena Quint was born in Piotrków, Poland, in 1935. As a child she experienced the ghetto and forced labor before liberation from Bergen-Belsen by the British Army. She was the only member of her immediate family to survive.

After the war she spent time in a displaced-persons camp and a Swedish hospital before moving to the United States in 1946. In 1984 she moved to Israel with her husband and four children.

Quint later volunteered at Yad Vashem, sharing her experiences with visitors from around the world. Her connection gives Rena a place in the work of Holocaust testimony and education: an individual life retold so that later generations can understand a history beyond dates and statistics.

Rena Sofer on television

American actor Rena Sofer became familiar to daytime audiences as Lois Cerullo in General Hospital. Her performance received the 1995 Daytime Emmy for supporting actress in a drama series.

She later played Quinn Fuller in The Bold and the Beautiful from 2013 to 2022. The two roles place her first name in different long-running television families, rather than tying it to one brief appearance.

Her career provides a screen association alongside Quint's educational work. Both women have used the full Rena in public life, showing the name's ability to function independently of a longer formal version.

American popularity

Rena's strongest American female ranking was #153 in 1885. Its largest annual count came later, in 1962, when 575 girls received it. The count was 370 in 1950 and 303 in 1980.

In 2025, seventy-five American girls received Rena, ranking #2,402. Its strongest numerical and ranking years fall in different periods, reflecting both a long naming history and changes in the size of the American birth population.

How popular is Rena?

In 2025, Rena ranked #2,402 among girls in the United States, with 75 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1880; its largest annual count was 575 in 1962. 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.