Reese

REES, IPA /ɹiːs/. · 1 syllable

Reese is comfortably familiar.

91/100

Strong Practical Fit

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

Name Profile

Pronunciation & Spelling
Effortless
A documented English pronunciation is on file: REES, IPA /ɹiːs/.
91/100
Everyday Use
Low risk
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

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS: Rhys; Reece; Rees

ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

Sources vary on whether the Welsh root Rhys is best glossed as 'ardor/fire' or 'wreath/garland'; both readings appear in reference material without a single settled consensus.

Rhys (Welsh). Rhys was one of the most prominent personal names in medieval Wales, borne by several Welsh princes (e.g., Rhys ap Tewdwr, Rhys ap Gruffydd). Reese, its Anglicized form, was historically and predominantly a masculine name and surname in English-speaking contexts; in the U.S. it began appearing in the SSA data for boys with a long low-level tail back to 1880, then surged for boys from 2000, and separately took off as a girls' name only from 2000 onward, rapidly overtaking the masculine usage and peaking for girls in 2012.

POPULARITY

Reese over time

United States

#192RANK

Rank #192 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Recognizable without feeling automatic. Ranked #192 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

REES, IPA /ɹiːs/.

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS

Rhys
Reece
Rees

PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Friendly, simple, one-syllable, and currently fashionable for a girl, part of the same short-crisp-name trend as Wren, Piper, and Blake.

INTO ADULTHOOD

Reads as bright, contemporary, and gender-neutral-leaning-feminine for an adult, sitting comfortably alongside other Welsh-surname transfers like Rhys, Bryn, and Tegan with no strong era-lock beyond its 2000s-2010s surge.

Cultural Footprint

Reese is the standard American Anglicized spelling of the Welsh personal name Rhys, one of the most historically significant Welsh royal names (borne by multiple medieval Welsh princes). In the U.S. it has been almost entirely reinterpreted as a modern unisex-to-feminine-leaning given name, detached in everyday use from its Welsh royal-name history.

TRACEABLE ORIGIN

Reese WitherspoonAmerican actress, widely credited with driving the name's shift toward feminine usage in the U.S. from the late 1990s onward
Reese Wilkersonfictional character on the TV sitcom 'Malcolm in the Middle'

Community Impressions

Comes across as bright, current, and easy to say — a short Welsh-surname-derived name that reads as gently feminine in the U.S. today, largely independent of its older Welsh-princely history.

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

More about Reese

FORMALITY

Casual and contemporary rather than formal; functions comfortably as a standalone name in professional contexts due to its brevity and clean sound.

Names around it

Rhys Reece Wren Piper

EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Reese 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