Reed
Reed was given to 770 boys in 2025, #419 among boys’ names; 36,977 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 31,200 Americans named Reed and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 19 years old and half are between 10 and 34.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Reed by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Reed mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Reed is “a unisex given name transferred from the surname.”
As an English and Scottish surname, from the adjective red.
Also as an English surname, from Old English rēodan (“to clear out”), from Proto-West Germanic *reudan.
Also as an English surname, from several places in England, such as Reed, Lancashire (from Old English ra (“roe deer”) or Rede, Suffolk. Compare Rider, Reader.
/ɹiːd/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Reed?
#419 among boys’ names, 2025
Reed fell from #331 in 2015 to #419 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.55 to 0.45 per 1,000.
1,122 babies in 2014, the peak
Reed peaked in 2014, when 1,122 babies were given it (1,096 boys, #318 among boys’ names). The 784 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 70% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 770 | #419 | 0.45 |
| 2024 | 747 | #423 | 0.43 |
| 2023 | 725 | #431 | 0.42 |
| 2022 | 777 | #416 | 0.45 |
| 2021 | 740 | #415 | 0.42 |
| 2020 | 661 | #450 | 0.38 |
| 2019 | 777 | #402 | 0.43 |
| 2018 | 855 | #378 | 0.47 |
| 2017 | 862 | #379 | 0.47 |
| 2016 | 962 | #351 | 0.51 |
Every recorded year (145)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,045 | #331 | 0.55 |
| 2014 | 1,096 | #318 | 0.57 |
| 2013 | 1,032 | #323 | 0.55 |
| 2012 | 817 | #372 | 0.43 |
| 2011 | 809 | #367 | 0.43 |
| 2010 | 759 | #381 | 0.40 |
| 2009 | 687 | #420 | 0.35 |
| 2008 | 726 | #406 | 0.36 |
| 2007 | 617 | #450 | 0.30 |
| 2006 | 568 | #470 | 0.28 |
| 2005 | 530 | #473 | 0.27 |
| 2004 | 514 | #483 | 0.26 |
| 2003 | 478 | #509 | 0.24 |
| 2002 | 468 | #494 | 0.24 |
| 2001 | 501 | #473 | 0.26 |
| 2000 | 529 | #449 | 0.27 |
| 1999 | 558 | #423 | 0.29 |
| 1998 | 524 | #437 | 0.27 |
| 1997 | 504 | #445 | 0.27 |
| 1996 | 532 | #422 | 0.28 |
| 1995 | 550 | #414 | 0.29 |
| 1994 | 509 | #443 | 0.26 |
| 1993 | 437 | #481 | 0.22 |
| 1992 | 367 | #528 | 0.18 |
| 1991 | 276 | #613 | 0.14 |
| 1990 | 238 | #654 | 0.12 |
| 1989 | 226 | #663 | 0.11 |
| 1988 | 255 | #576 | 0.13 |
| 1987 | 240 | #584 | 0.13 |
| 1986 | 233 | #583 | 0.13 |
| 1985 | 230 | #579 | 0.12 |
| 1984 | 204 | #594 | 0.11 |
| 1983 | 207 | #594 | 0.12 |
| 1982 | 217 | #587 | 0.12 |
| 1981 | 196 | #610 | 0.11 |
| 1980 | 198 | #621 | 0.11 |
| 1979 | 141 | #731 | 0.08 |
| 1978 | 191 | #603 | 0.12 |
| 1977 | 145 | #707 | 0.09 |
| 1976 | 141 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1975 | 129 | #732 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 147 | #673 | 0.09 |
| 1973 | 136 | #687 | 0.09 |
| 1972 | 121 | #725 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 129 | #728 | 0.07 |
| 1970 | 172 | #620 | 0.09 |
| 1969 | 154 | #642 | 0.09 |
| 1968 | 142 | #637 | 0.08 |
| 1967 | 148 | #617 | 0.08 |
| 1966 | 153 | #601 | 0.09 |
| 1965 | 157 | #612 | 0.08 |
| 1964 | 185 | #584 | 0.09 |
| 1963 | 166 | #609 | 0.08 |
| 1962 | 197 | #563 | 0.10 |
| 1961 | 179 | #590 | 0.08 |
| 1960 | 215 | #542 | 0.10 |
| 1959 | 197 | #552 | 0.09 |
| 1958 | 252 | #491 | 0.12 |
| 1957 | 283 | #458 | 0.13 |
| 1956 | 282 | #452 | 0.13 |
| 1955 | 270 | #450 | 0.13 |
| 1954 | 252 | #456 | 0.12 |
| 1953 | 263 | #439 | 0.13 |
| 1952 | 250 | #447 | 0.13 |
| 1951 | 241 | #435 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 204 | #467 | 0.11 |
| 1949 | 268 | #413 | 0.15 |
| 1948 | 172 | #504 | 0.10 |
| 1947 | 160 | #533 | 0.09 |
| 1946 | 135 | #550 | 0.08 |
| 1945 | 112 | #575 | 0.08 |
| 1944 | 109 | #590 | 0.08 |
| 1943 | 111 | #601 | 0.08 |
| 1942 | 131 | #534 | 0.09 |
| 1941 | 96 | #619 | 0.08 |
| 1940 | 91 | #624 | 0.08 |
| 1939 | 73 | #699 | 0.07 |
| 1938 | 98 | #600 | 0.09 |
| 1937 | 67 | #749 | 0.06 |
| 1936 | 78 | #674 | 0.08 |
| 1935 | 80 | #667 | 0.08 |
| 1934 | 87 | #649 | 0.08 |
| 1933 | 86 | #628 | 0.09 |
| 1932 | 89 | #642 | 0.09 |
| 1931 | 108 | #569 | 0.10 |
| 1930 | 105 | #589 | 0.10 |
| 1929 | 112 | #560 | 0.10 |
| 1928 | 120 | #559 | 0.11 |
| 1927 | 109 | #594 | 0.10 |
| 1926 | 144 | #508 | 0.13 |
| 1925 | 114 | #591 | 0.10 |
| 1924 | 108 | #614 | 0.10 |
| 1923 | 119 | #574 | 0.11 |
| 1922 | 136 | #540 | 0.12 |
| 1921 | 142 | #524 | 0.13 |
| 1920 | 123 | #557 | 0.12 |
| 1919 | 104 | #592 | 0.11 |
| 1918 | 123 | #542 | 0.12 |
| 1917 | 127 | #512 | 0.14 |
| 1916 | 100 | #578 | 0.11 |
| 1915 | 101 | #567 | 0.12 |
| 1914 | 66 | #627 | 0.10 |
| 1913 | 67 | #529 | 0.13 |
| 1912 | 43 | #646 | 0.10 |
| 1911 | 29 | #571 | 0.13 |
| 1910 | 30 | #519 | 0.15 |
| 1909 | 16 | #706 | 0.10 |
| 1908 | 18 | #625 | 0.12 |
| 1907 | 18 | #613 | 0.12 |
| 1906 | 19 | #538 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 20 | #519 | 0.15 |
| 1904 | 17 | #558 | 0.13 |
| 1903 | 21 | #467 | 0.18 |
| 1902 | 21 | #472 | 0.17 |
| 1901 | 11 | #674 | 0.10 |
| 1900 | 14 | #693 | 0.09 |
| 1899 | 9 | #768 | 0.08 |
| 1898 | 20 | #468 | 0.16 |
| 1897 | 12 | #639 | 0.11 |
| 1896 | 16 | #532 | 0.13 |
| 1895 | 19 | #471 | 0.16 |
| 1894 | 12 | #621 | 0.10 |
| 1893 | 11 | #644 | 0.10 |
| 1892 | 15 | #536 | 0.12 |
| 1891 | 10 | #627 | 0.10 |
| 1890 | 13 | #558 | 0.12 |
| 1889 | 12 | #576 | 0.11 |
| 1888 | 15 | #520 | 0.12 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,039 | 0.05 |
| 1886 | 5 | #1,079 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 6 | #918 | 0.06 |
| 1884 | 9 | #696 | 0.08 |
| 1883 | 7 | #787 | 0.07 |
| 1882 | 9 | #685 | 0.08 |
| 1881 | 8 | #689 | 0.08 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Reed a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 36,977 Americans recorded as Reed, 2% are girls and 98% boys. In 2025 it went to 14 girls and 770 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Reed: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Reed, and how old are they?
31,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 85% of the 36,977 Americans ever recorded as Reed. The median Reed alive today is 19 years old; half are between 10 and 34.
The 2020 Census counted 27,775 people named Reed (965 women and girls, 26,810 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 27,744 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 348 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,770 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,140 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,890 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 9,770 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 11,300 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Reed born?
The states with the most babies named Reed are Texas, Pennsylvania and California, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 61 | #538 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 49 | #248 | 1.0× |
| California | 40 | #694 | 0.7× |
| Kentucky | 38 | #146 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 34 | #337 | 1.0× |
| New York | 34 | #489 | 0.5× |
| Tennessee | 28 | #322 | 1.1× |
| Georgia | 26 | #438 | 0.6× |
| Indiana | 23 | #336 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 23 | #362 | 0.7× |
Where Reed is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Reed is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 3.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Reed with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 79,602 babies since 1880, Reed is the second most given (46% of them). In 2025 it was given to 784 of their 1,996 babies (39%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Reed
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Reed and names like it
- Compare Reed and ReidBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sReed peaked in 2014.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Reed since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Reed: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2014The year the most babies were named Reed.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Reed alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with RMost given first.