Reiss
Derived from an Arabic surname meaning "leader" or "prince".
Name Census estimates that about 260 living Americans carry the first name Reiss. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 75.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Reiss today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Reiss births was 2010 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Reiss. 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 Reiss with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
260
~ 1 in 1,318,286 Americans
Peak year
2010
15 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,749
Tracked since 1990
Census
Reiss in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 307 people with the first name Reiss, which placed it at #29,019 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
#29,019
National first-name rank
People counted
307
307 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Reiss
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reiss is White at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.4%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Reiss 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 Reiss at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.6% · 226
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 29
- Two or more races5.5% · 17
- Black or African American4.9% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Reiss
Reiss is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 263 total registrations, 199 (75.7%) were male and 64 (24.3%) were female.
Reiss as a male name
- Ranked #13,749 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (14 births)
Reiss as a female name
- Ranked #17,448 in 2019
- 5 female births in 2019
- Peak: 2011 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Reiss on both sides of the split. Of the 300 people counted with this name, 212 were male (70.7%) and 88 were female (29.3%).
Popularity
Reiss: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Reiss from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 101 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Reiss 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 Reiss during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Reiss
The name Reiss is believed to have originated from the German language, derived from the word "reise," which means "journey" or "travel." It is thought to have emerged as a surname in the medieval period, likely referring to someone who was a traveler or merchant.
In its earliest recorded uses, the name Reiss appeared in various German-speaking regions, such as Bavaria and Saxony, as early as the 13th century. It was often spelled with variations like "Reiss," "Reisz," or "Reissig."
One of the earliest known references to the name Reiss can be found in the records of the city of Nuremberg, where a merchant named Hans Reiss was mentioned in the year 1349. This suggests that the name was associated with traders and travelers during that time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Reiss. One of the most famous was Johann Reiss (1655-1736), a German composer and organist who was known for his contributions to the development of the organ and its music.
Another prominent figure was Jacob Reiss (1766-1828), a German mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics and the calculation of planetary orbits.
In the realm of literature, the name Reiss is associated with the German writer and poet Johann Peter Reiss (1795-1871), who was known for his romantic poems and his work as a librarian.
The name Reiss also gained recognition in the field of science with the German physicist and Nobel Prize winner Wilhelm Reiss (1838-1908), who made important discoveries in the study of electricity and electromagnetism.
Finally, one cannot overlook the German-American businessman and philanthropist Charles Reiss (1857-1942), who founded the Reiss Manufacturing Company and was known for his support of educational institutions and charitable organizations.
These examples illustrate the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments of individuals who have borne the name Reiss throughout history, reflecting its origins as a name associated with travel, trade, and exploration.
People
Reiss + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Reiss 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
Reiss: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Reiss?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 260 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Reiss 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 1,318,286 US residents.
Is Reiss a common name?
We classify Reiss as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 263 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Reiss most popular?
The single biggest year for Reiss was 2010, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Reiss is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Reiss in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 307 people with the name Reiss, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,019 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 Reiss 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 Reiss?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Reiss on both sides of the split. Of the 300 people counted with this name, 212 were male (70.7%) and 88 were female (29.3%). 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 Reiss?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reiss is White at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.4%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Reiss most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Reiss in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.6% (226 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 Reiss in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Reiss a male name?
Yes, 75.7% of people registered as Reiss 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 Reiss still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Reiss 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 Reiss 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 are called Reiss?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.