Regan
Meaning
little king, impulsive (from Ó Riagáin); immortalized by Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist (1973)
The story
Regan comes from the Irish surname Ó Riagáin, traditionally read as little king, with a streak of impulsiveness in the old glossaries. Shakespeare gave the name to one of King Lear's treacherous daughters, but the bearer people actually remember is Regan MacNeil, the twelve-year-old girl at the center of The Exorcist in 1973, the film that frightened a generation half to death. You might expect that role to bury a baby name forever. Instead Regan kept climbing: it enters the American records around midcentury and reaches its strongest stretch in the 2000s and 2010s, likely lifted by the country's affection for Reagan and its many spellings, though no one can fully untangle the two. It has eased only slightly in the 2020s. Few names have survived a scarier audition, and Regan wears the scar rather stylishly.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Regan peaked in the 2000s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
When you meet Regan
Most people given the name Regan in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Regan deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Regan truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Regan fits with your family’s names and surname.
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