Reda
An Arabic unisex name meaning "servant of God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,163 living Americans carry the first name Reda. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Reda today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Reda births was 1955 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Reda. 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 Reda with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Reda was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 294,716 Americans
Peak year
1955
67 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,141
Tracked since 1904
Census
Reda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,303 people with the first name Reda, which placed it at #6,832 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
#6,832
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,303 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Reda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reda is White at 83.8%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Reda 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 Reda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.8% · 1,931
- Black or African American7.3% · 169
- Two or more races3.8% · 88
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 57
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Reda
Reda leans heavily female at 83.7% of total registrations, but 358 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Reda as a male name
- Ranked #7,141 in 2024
- 12 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (23 births)
Reda as a female name
- Ranked #16,430 in 2012
- 6 female births in 2012
- Peak: 1955 (67 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Reda on both sides of the split. Of the 2,305 people counted with this name, 938 were male (40.7%) and 1,367 were female (59.3%).
Popularity
Reda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Reda from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 483 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Reda 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 Reda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Redas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Reda, while Oklahoma, Ohio, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Reda
The name Reda is believed to have originated from the Arabic language, with its roots tracing back to the Middle East and North Africa regions during the medieval period. It is derived from the Arabic word "radda," which means "to repel" or "to drive back," suggesting a strong and protective connotation.
Reda was a popular name among Arabs during the early Islamic era, particularly in the 7th and 8th centuries. It is mentioned in several historical texts and records from that time, including Islamic chronicles and biographical accounts of notable figures. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Reda is found in the writings of the renowned Arab historian and scholar, Al-Tabari (838-923 CE), who documented the lives of prominent individuals from the early Islamic era.
In the 9th century, Reda al-Qaysari (790-865 CE) was a renowned Sufi mystic and scholar from Qaysariyah, in present-day Turkey. He was known for his profound spiritual teachings and his contributions to the development of Islamic mysticism.
During the 11th century, Reda al-Din al-Hafizi (1008-1088 CE) was a celebrated Persian poet and scholar from Nishapur, in modern-day Iran. His works, which included poetry and literary criticism, were highly regarded and influential in the Persian literary tradition.
In the 12th century, Reda al-Din Ibn al-Furat (1136-1211 CE) was a prominent Syrian historian and jurist who served as the chief judge of Damascus. His historical writings, which documented the events and personalities of his time, are considered valuable sources for understanding the social and political landscape of the Ayyubid period.
Another notable figure bearing the name Reda was Reda Bey (1858-1918), an Egyptian military officer and politician who played a significant role in the nationalist movement against British colonial rule in Egypt during the early 20th century. He served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1918 until his death later that year.
While these are just a few examples, the name Reda has been carried by numerous individuals throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence and cultural significance within the Arab and Islamic world.
People
Reda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Reda 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
Reda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Reda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,163 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Reda 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 294,716 US residents.
Is Reda a common name?
We classify Reda as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,201 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Reda most popular?
The single biggest year for Reda was 1955, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Reda is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Reda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,303 people with the name Reda, or 0.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,832 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 Reda 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 Reda?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Reda on both sides of the split. Of the 2,305 people counted with this name, 938 were male (40.7%) and 1,367 were female (59.3%). 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 Reda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reda is White at 83.8%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Reda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Reda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.8% (1,931 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 Reda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Reda a female name?
Yes, 83.7% of people registered as Reda 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 Reda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Reda 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 Reda 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 share the name Reda?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.