Reis
A Persian name meaning "leader", "chief", or "guide".
Name Census estimates that about 911 living Americans carry the first name Reis. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Reis today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Reis births was 2013 (46 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Reis. 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 Reis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
911
~ 1 in 376,240 Americans
Peak year
2013
46 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,718
Tracked since 1982
Census
Reis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 920 people with the first name Reis, which placed it at #13,211 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
#13,211
National first-name rank
People counted
920
920 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Reis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reis is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.5%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Reis 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 Reis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.0% · 745
- Two or more races6.5% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 54
- Black or African American3.4% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Reis
Reis leans heavily male at 86.9% of total registrations, but 121 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Reis as a male name
- Ranked #6,718 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (45 births)
Reis as a female name
- Ranked #17,233 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2013 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Reis leans strongly male. 763 people counted with this name were male (83.4%), compared with 152 female bearers (16.6%).
Popularity
Reis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Reis from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 393 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Reis 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 Reis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Reis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Indiana, New York, California recorded the most babies named Reis, while Ohio, Illinois, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Reis
The name Reis has its origins in the Portuguese language and likely dates back to the 13th or 14th century. It is derived from the Portuguese word "rei," meaning "king." This name may have originally been used as a title or descriptor for someone who held a position of authority or power, similar to a king or ruler.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Reis can be found in the 14th-century Portuguese epic poem "Os Lusíadas" by Luís Vaz de Camões. In this work, the name appears as a character or reference to a person of significance.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Reis. One of the most famous was Reis Efendiev, an Azerbaijani composer and conductor who lived from 1915 to 1997. His contributions to the development of Azerbaijani classical music were significant, and he is regarded as one of the most influential cultural figures in the country's history.
Another prominent figure with the name Reis was Reis Leming, an American baseball player who played in the Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1914 to 1923. He was a pitcher for several teams, including the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics.
In the realm of literature, Reis Paternò was an Italian writer and poet who lived from 1867 to 1950. He was known for his works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human experience.
Reis Vellinho was a Brazilian writer and journalist who lived from 1933 to 2015. He was a prolific author and a prominent figure in the literary circles of Brazil, known for his novels, short stories, and essays.
Lastly, Reis Pinto was a Portuguese explorer and navigator who lived in the 16th century. He was involved in several expeditions to the Indian Ocean and the East Indies, contributing to the expansion of Portuguese maritime exploration and trade during that era.
People
Reis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Reis 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
Reis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Reis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 911 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Reis 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 376,240 US residents.
Is Reis a common name?
We classify Reis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 923 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Reis most popular?
The single biggest year for Reis was 2013, when 46 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Reis is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Reis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 920 people with the name Reis, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,211 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 Reis 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 Reis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Reis leans strongly male. 763 people counted with this name were male (83.4%), compared with 152 female bearers (16.6%). 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 Reis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reis is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.5%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Reis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Reis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.0% (745 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 Reis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Reis a male name?
Yes, 86.9% of people registered as Reis in the SSA data are male. 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 Reis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Reis 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 Reis 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 Reis as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Reis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.