Reef
A rocky ridge lying near the surface of the water.
Name Census estimates that about 1,279 living Americans carry the first name Reef. It is a predominantly male name (95.7% of registrations). The average person named Reef today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Reef births was 2021 (89 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Reef. 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 Reef with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Reef is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 56 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Reef is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 267,986 Americans
Peak year
2021
89 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,584
Tracked since 1996
Census
Reef in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 963 people with the first name Reef, which placed it at #12,787 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
#12,787
National first-name rank
People counted
963
963 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Reef
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reef is White at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.9%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Reef 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 Reef at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.0% · 664
- Two or more races12.9% · 124
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 105
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 44
- Black or African American2.5% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Reef
Reef leans heavily male at 95.7% of total registrations, but 56 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Reef as a male name
- Ranked #2,584 in 2024
- 52 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (81 births)
Reef as a female name
- Ranked #10,074 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Reef leans strongly male. 905 people counted with this name were male (93.5%), compared with 63 female bearers (6.5%).
Popularity
Reef: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Reef 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 598 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Reef remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Reef 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 Reef during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Reefs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Florida, Hawaii recorded the most babies named Reef, while North Carolina, Texas, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 151 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Reef
The name Reef has its origins in the Arabic language, where it is derived from the word "rif," meaning a coastal area or a reef in the sea. It first emerged as a given name in the Middle East and North Africa during the medieval period, around the 7th to 13th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Reef was Reef ibn Gharam, a renowned Arab poet from the 8th century. His poetry celebrated the beauty of nature and the maritime lifestyle, often drawing inspiration from the coastal regions where he lived.
In Islamic history, Reef al-Din al-Jazari, born in 1136 in present-day Turkey, was a renowned engineer and inventor. He is best known for his pioneering work in designing and constructing automated machines, including early examples of programmable robots.
Another notable figure was Reef ibn Abi al-Qasim, a 12th-century Arab mathematician and astronomer from Seville, Spain. He made significant contributions to the study of spherical trigonometry and the calculation of planetary movements.
During the Renaissance period, the name Reef was also found in Europe, particularly in regions with strong maritime traditions. One such individual was Reef Blundell, an English sea captain and explorer born in 1580. He led several expeditions to the West Indies and is credited with mapping and charting parts of the Caribbean coastline.
In the 19th century, Reef Brander was a Dutch-born American artist and painter known for his realistic depictions of coastal landscapes and seascapes. He was born in 1789 and spent much of his life in New York City, where he gained recognition for his artistic talents.
While the name Reef has its roots in Arabic and Islamic cultures, it has since been adopted by various linguistic communities around the world, particularly those with strong maritime connections or coastal settlements. Its association with the natural beauty of reefs and coastal environments has contributed to its enduring appeal as a given name.
People
Reef + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Reef 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
Reef: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Reef?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,279 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Reef 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 267,986 US residents.
Is Reef a common name?
We classify Reef as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,290 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Reef most popular?
The single biggest year for Reef was 2021, when 89 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Reef is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Reef in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 963 people with the name Reef, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,787 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 Reef 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 Reef?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Reef leans strongly male. 905 people counted with this name were male (93.5%), compared with 63 female bearers (6.5%). 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 Reef?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reef is White at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.9%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Reef most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Reef in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.0% (664 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 Reef in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Reef a male name?
Yes, 95.7% of people registered as Reef 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 Reef still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Reef 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 Reef 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 have the name Reef?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.