Given name & surname
Reed
“a red-haired lady”
Reed is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “a red-haired lady.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “a red-haired lady.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
How it developed
From Old English rēodan (“to clear out”), from Proto-West Germanic *reudan, from Old English ra (“roe deer”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1881. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Reed through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 36,977
- 36,056 boys · 921 girls
- Most popular year
- 2014
- 1,122 babies
- 2025
- 784
- #419 for boys · #7,814 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −9%
- Steady
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 770 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 419 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 8.7% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 1,096 in 2014. It also appeared in 14 birth records for girls in 2025. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (61). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 27,775 as a first name in 2020; 268,584 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Reed’s family of names
Reed has a related form in Reid. Reed has a related form in Reid. Reed has a related form in Read.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Reed
- Reed HastingsAmerican entrepreneur and education philanthropistborn 1960
- Reed DiamondAmerican actorborn 1967
- Reed HadleyAmerican actor (1911–1974)
- Reed BirneyAmerican actorborn 1954
- Reed SmootUnited States Senator and LDS Apostle (1862–1941)
- Reed MoranoAmerican cinematographerborn 1977
- Reed HowesModel, actor (1900-1964)
- Reed Baker-WhitingAmerican soccer playerborn 2005
- Reed AlexanderAmerican actorborn 1993
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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