Rees
The name Rees is a Welsh name derived from "ap Rees" meaning "son of Rhys."
Name Census estimates that about 987 living Americans carry the first name Rees. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Rees today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rees births was 2006 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rees. 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 Rees with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
987
~ 1 in 347,269 Americans
Peak year
2006
44 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,382
Tracked since 1914
Census
Rees in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,060 people with the first name Rees, which placed it at #11,914 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
#11,914
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,060 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rees
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rees is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.3%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Rees 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 Rees at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.7% · 919
- Two or more races5.3% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 33
- Black or African American2.6% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Rees
Rees leans heavily male at 88.0% of total registrations, but 136 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rees as a male name
- Ranked #6,382 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (36 births)
Rees as a female name
- Ranked #17,069 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2010 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rees leans strongly male. 889 people counted with this name were male (83.9%), compared with 170 female bearers (16.1%).
Popularity
Rees: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rees from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 349 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rees 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 Rees during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rees' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rees
The name Rees has its origins in the Welsh language and culture. It is derived from the Welsh word "rhys," which means "ardor" or "passion." This name has been in use since the medieval period in Wales.
The name Rees is thought to have been derived from the Old Welsh name "Res," which was a variation of the name "Rhys." The earliest recorded use of the name Rees dates back to the 13th century in Wales.
One of the most famous historical figures to bear the name Rees was Rees ap Griffith (c. 1132-1201), a Welsh prince and the Lord of Senghenydd. He played a significant role in the conflicts between the Welsh and the Normans during the late 12th century.
Another notable individual with the name Rees was Rees Pritchard (c. 1600-1670), a Welsh Anglican priest and poet. He is best known for his collection of poems titled "Cambro-Brytannicae Cymraecaeve Linguae Institutiones" (The Institution of the Welsh Language).
In the 18th century, Rees Goring Thomas (1768-1828) was a Welsh clergyman and author. He wrote several works on Welsh history and literature, including "The History of the Revival of Druidism in Wales" and "The History of the Welsh Baptists."
Rees Davies (1938-2005) was a prominent Welsh historian and academic. He was a professor at various universities, including the University of Oxford, and made significant contributions to the study of Welsh history and culture.
Rees Howells (1879-1950) was a Welsh Christian evangelist and intercessor. He founded the Bible College of Wales and is known for his influential teachings on prayer and intercession.
While the name Rees has Welsh origins, it has been used in other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries, due to the influence of Welsh immigration and cultural exchange.
People
Rees + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rees 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
Rees: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rees?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 987 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rees 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 347,269 US residents.
Is Rees a common name?
We classify Rees as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,136 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rees most popular?
The single biggest year for Rees was 2006, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rees is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rees in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,060 people with the name Rees, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,914 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 Rees 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 Rees?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rees leans strongly male. 889 people counted with this name were male (83.9%), compared with 170 female bearers (16.1%). 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 Rees?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rees is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.3%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Rees most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rees in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.7% (919 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 Rees in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rees a male name?
Yes, 88.0% of people registered as Rees 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 Rees still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rees 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 Rees 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 are called Rees?
You can see how many Americans are named Rees on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.