Reagan

RAY·gən, IPA /ˈɹeɪ.ɡən/ · 2 syllables

Reagan is comfortably familiar.

87/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

Pronunciation & Spelling
Clear, with one common misreading
A documented English pronunciation is on file: RAY-gən, IPA /ˈɹeɪ.ɡən/. Commonly mispronounced as REE-gan.
91/100
Everyday Use
Low risk
Shortens naturally in everyday use, with two established short forms.
95/100
Growing Up
Strong lifetime fit
Works comfortably across child and adult settings.
82/100
International Use
Broad international fit
Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.
85/100

NAME DETAILS

COMMON FORMS: Rae; Reggie
CLOSE SPELLINGS: Reagen
OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS: Regan; Raegan

ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

The precise literal meaning of the root Irish name behind Reagan is not settled among sources; 'little king' is the best-attested working theory, not a confirmed etymology.

Ó Riagáin (Irish surname); Riagán (underlying personal name).

POPULARITY

Reagan over time

United States

#248RANK

Rank #248 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Recognizable without feeling automatic. Ranked #248 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

RAY·gən, IPA /ˈɹeɪ.ɡən/

STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE

COMMON FORMS

Rae
Reggie

CLOSE SPELLINGS

Reagen

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS

Regan
Raegan

PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Contemporary and confident for a girl, fitting comfortably among other Irish-surname transfers (Kennedy, Riley, Kelsey) that became mainstream U.S. girls' names from the 1990s onward.

INTO ADULTHOOD

Reads as clean, formal, and professionally credible for an adult woman — a surname-turned-first-name in the same register as Morgan, Madison, and Mackenzie, with no strong era-lock beyond its late-20th-century surge.

Cultural Footprint

A textbook Irish-surname-to-given-name transfer: Reagan/Regan/Raegan are Anglicized spellings of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin ('descendant of Riagán'), historically borne by the O'Regans of Meath, one of the four tribes of Tara under the southern Uí Néill. As a first name it moved from rare and largely masculine to overwhelmingly feminine in the U.S. from the 1990s onward, part of the same wave as Morgan, Madison, and Kennedy.

TRACEABLE ORIGIN

Ronald Reagan40th U.S. president, whose surname is credited with establishing the name's American recognizability

Community Impressions

Comes across as modern, polished, and confidently feminine in current U.S. usage, carrying an association with Ronald Reagan's surname that lends it a formal, faintly political undertone some parents may or may not intend.

How this name is commonly received · not used in the score

More about Reagan

FORMALITY

Formal enough for professional use as given, with 'Rae' available as a shorter informal form; reads as slightly more formal/serious than peers like Morgan due to its presidential association.

Names around it

Morgan Madison Kennedy Raegan

EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Reagan is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

A documented English pronunciation is on file. Uses standard characters that systems widely handle cleanly.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK