Meaning: Its source is an Irish Gaelic expression meaning "Little king."

Feminine Forms: Regin

Popularity: The name Reagan ranked 838th in popularity for males of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics.

Masculine Forms: Reagan

Popularity: The name Reagan ranked 224th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics and 3202nd in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

Though this name appears on the 1990 U.S. Census lists, it is used by only a small percentage of the general population.

Narrative: This was first used as a girl's name in the English-speaking world by William Shakespeare, who chose the name for one of the two disloyal princesses in his 1606 tragedy King Lear.

It is not possible to state with certainty the derivation of the name, but given the pre-Roman setting of the King Lear story, a Gaelic derivation seems reasonable.