Reid
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Meaning
surname, "red-haired"
Famously borne by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn.
The story
Reid is Scottish for the red-haired, a color surname like the hill and meadow names around it, and its American record is the patient one-syllable build: under 900 a decade into the 1940s, a midcentury presence near 1,800, then the steady climb, about 2,900 in the 1980s, 5,000, 6,700, and 13,000 in the 2010s, with 6,700 so far this decade. It sits in the crisp one-syllable squad these batches have assembled, Tate, Cade, Colt, names that sound like signatures, and it shares their trajectory: chosen increasingly by families who want a full name that no one will ever shorten. In our records it goes to boys about 40,800 to 990. The red hair in the etymology is optional equipment; the four letters and the clean stop at the end are the actual product, and the record says the product sells.
How popular is Reid around the world?
In the United States, 6,746 babies were named Reid between 2020 and 2025. In New Zealand, 19 boys named Reid were registered in 2025.
Reid is on the official records of the United States, New Zealand, Canada, South Australia, Ireland, England and Wales and Scotland.
United States
1 in 3,200
In the United States, 6,746 babies were named Reid between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Reid peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
New Zealand
1 in 3,000
In New Zealand, 19 boys named Reid were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Canada
1 in 3,000
In Canada, 114 boys named Reid were born in 2024, the 289th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
South Australia
1 in 4,6002017
In South Australia, 4 boys were registered as Reid in 2017.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Ireland
1 in 6,000
In Ireland, 9 boys named Reid were born in 2025, the 402nd most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
England and Wales
1 in 6,200
In England and Wales, 95 boys named Reid were born in 2025, the 422nd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Scotland
1 in 6,500
In Scotland, 7 boys named Reid were registered in 2024, the 432nd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Austria
last on record 2012
Reid is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Montevideo City
last on record 1982
Reid is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
Names like Reid · Names of founders and builders · Short names
The Reid deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Reid 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 Reid fits with your family’s names and surname.
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