Reginald
- Pronunciation
- [Re-gi-nald]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Strong
- Origin
- English
About the Name Reginald
Reginald is an English given name of Germanic origin whose root elements are ragin ("advice" or "counsel") and wald ("ruler" or "power") — yielding a compound meaning approximately "powerful counsel" or "wise ruler." Its meaning is "strong," capturing the dominant sense of the second element. The name entered English through the Norman French form Reinald, derived from the Old High German Raginwald, and was common in medieval England. Over the centuries it became a firmly established English masculine name, with the familiar nickname Reggie providing an informal counterpart to its more formal four-syllable given form. Recorded variants for this name include Raghnall, Reg, Reggie, and Reynold.
Reginald appears in the US Social Security top-1000 from 2000 and peaked in that same year at rank #373. The name remained on the chart through 2020, recording 216 births at rank #989 in that final tracked year. Total top-1000-qualifying births across the window came to approximately 8,555.. Its two-decade chart presence, while steadily declining, reflects a loyal core of parents drawn to its formal, distinguished character — a name that carries the weight of English aristocratic and clerical tradition without being archaic.
Reginald sits in the tradition of stately English masculine names — long, four-syllable, consonant-rich — whose formal register contrasts with the breezy informality of their nicknames. Its continued use through 2020, more than a century after it was most commonly given, is a testament to the enduring appeal of names that feel substantial and classical in an era of shorter, trendier alternatives.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Reginald
US Popularity History (2000–2020)
Annual US births named Reginald by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2000 with 700 boys named Reginald (boy rank #373 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2020, ranked #989 for boys (216 US births). That's 616 places below its 2000 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Reginald Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Reginald the strongest states are Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | #449 | 30 |
| 2 | Louisiana | #540 | 90 |
| 3 | South Carolina | #557 | 56 |
| 4 | Alabama | #612 | 46 |
| 5 | Georgia | #615 | 158 |
| 6 | Maryland | #662 | 47 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | #683 | 28 |
| 8 | Tennessee | #690 | 70 |
| 9 | Florida | #745 | 167 |
| 10 | Illinois | #759 | 55 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | #1,132 | 77 |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | #912 | 36 |
| 3 | Ohio | #898 | 49 |
| 4 | North Carolina | #807 | 95 |
| 5 | Michigan | #788 | 59 |
| 6 | Virginia | #784 | 36 |
| 7 | Illinois | #759 | 55 |
| 8 | Florida | #745 | 167 |
| 9 | Tennessee | #690 | 70 |
| 10 | Wisconsin | #683 | 28 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Reginald in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Looking for names like Reginald?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Reginald to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Reginald against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).