Rea
Female name of Greek origin meaning "flowing" or "ease, repose".
Name Census estimates that about 1,150 living Americans carry the first name Rea. It is a predominantly female name (90.7% of registrations). The average person named Rea today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rea births was 1958 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rea. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Rea with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 298,047 Americans
Peak year
1958
34 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1958 SSA rank
#4,382
Tracked since 1892
Census
Rea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,717 people with the first name Rea, which placed it at #8,446 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#8,446
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,717 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rea is White at 56.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.1%) and Black (11.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Rea described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Rea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.7% · 974
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.1% · 363
- Black or African American11.6% · 199
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 101
- Two or more races3.6% · 61
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 19
Gender
Gender distribution for Rea
Rea leans heavily female at 90.7% of total registrations, but 190 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rea as a male name
- Ranked #4,382 in 1958
- 5 male births in 1958
- Peak: 1918 (14 births)
Rea as a female name
- Ranked #6,846 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1958 (29 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rea leans strongly female. 1,549 people counted with this name were female (90.2%), compared with 169 male bearers (9.8%).
Popularity
Rea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rea from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 249 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Rea remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rea by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Rea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Reas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Rea, while Pennsylvania, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rea
The name Rea has its origins in Ancient Greek, where it was derived from the word "rheo," meaning "to flow" or "to stream." It was originally associated with the Greek goddess of fertility and motherhood, Rhea, who was considered the mother of the Olympian gods.
In Greek mythology, Rhea was the daughter of the primordial deities Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (Sky), and the wife of Cronus, the leader of the Titans. She played a crucial role in the succession of the gods, as she helped her son Zeus escape being devoured by Cronus, ultimately leading to the overthrow of the Titans and the establishment of the Olympian gods' reign.
The name Rea can be traced back to ancient texts and religious scriptures, including Hesiod's "Theogony" and Homer's "Iliad," which reference the goddess Rhea and her significance in Greek mythology. The name was also popular among the ancient Greeks, with several notable historical figures bearing it.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Rea is from the 5th century BCE, when the Athenian dramatist Euripides wrote a play titled "Rhea," which focused on the goddess and her role in the mythological narrative.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Rea. One of the most famous was Rea Silvia, the legendary mother of Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome. According to Roman mythology, she was a Vestal Virgin who was impregnated by the god Mars, leading to the birth of the twin brothers.
Another notable figure was Rea Garvey (born 1973), an Irish singer-songwriter and lead vocalist of the German rock band Reamonn. She has had a successful career in the music industry, with numerous chart-topping hits and album releases.
In the world of literature, Rea Wilmshurst (1890-1976) was a British writer and poet known for her works on mysticism and spirituality, including "The Child Vision" and "The Awakening Universe."
The name Rea has also been associated with historical figures in the fields of art and science. Rea Irvin (1881-1972) was an American artist and editor who served as the first art editor for The New Yorker magazine, playing a significant role in shaping its iconic visual style.
Lastly, Rea Alborough (1931-2019) was a British physician and researcher who made significant contributions to the field of obstetrics and gynecology, particularly in the area of prenatal diagnosis and fetal medicine.
People
Rea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rea as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Rea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,150 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rea going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 298,047 US residents.
Is Rea a common name?
We classify Rea as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,039 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rea most popular?
The single biggest year for Rea was 1958, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rea is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,717 people with the name Rea, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,446 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Rea in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Rea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rea leans strongly female. 1,549 people counted with this name were female (90.2%), compared with 169 male bearers (9.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Rea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rea is White at 56.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.1%) and Black (11.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Rea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.7% (974 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Rea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rea a female name?
Yes, 90.7% of people registered as Rea in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Rea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rea in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Rea can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Rea as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.