boy's name
Regis
ray-ZHEE
- Origin French
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 71,247
Regis is grammatically odd — it is not a name but a case ending, the Latin genitive meaning of the king, so the name is half a phrase left standing on its own. Its strongest market is the United States, at 8950th.
- Regis is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 1968, when 2,240 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in France.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Regis over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2010s, still in progress — it covers 2010 to 2016, not a full ten years. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2016, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 1,145 |
| 1910s | 1,160 |
| 1920s | 1,790 |
| 1930s | 3,090 |
| 1940s | 5,440 |
| 1950s | 14,625 |
| 1960s | 17,110 |
| 1970s | 14,550 |
| 1980s | 5,155 |
| 1990s | 1,180 |
| 2000s | 295 |
| 2010s (to 2016) | 65 |
| 2020s (to 2016) | 10 |
What Regis means
Regis means of the king. The Latin is the genitive of rex, so it is a possessive form rather than a noun, and it names a relationship rather than a person.
Where Regis comes from
Regis is the genitive of the Latin rex, a king — literally of the king, which makes it a fragment rather than a full name. It reached use through Saint Jean-François Régis, a seventeenth-century Jesuit who worked in the Ardèche, whose surname it was; French families took it as a given name in his honor. The rex root also gives regal, royal and the Indian raja, all from an Indo-European word for a ruler.
Regis in use
Regis peaked in France in 1968, when 2,240 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It charts in exactly one of the six markets we track, at 8,950th in the United States on 8 births, across 71,247 lifetime births. So a French name has left the French rankings entirely and survives only in America, which several names in this band do.
How popular is Regis?
In 2016, Regis was given to 5 babies in France. It is a rare choice.
Where Regis is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
How Regis is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Régis | Régis is a rare spelling of Regis, written with an acute accent and recorded about 4,975 times, mostly in France. | 4,975 |
Names that peaked alongside Regis
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Regis also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Regis over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Regis in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Regis
Sibling names for Regis
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Regis — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Regis
What does the name Regis mean?
Of the king — the Latin genitive of rex, so it is a case form rather than a noun.
Where does the name come from?
Saint Jean-François Régis, a seventeenth-century Jesuit whose surname it was.
Is it related to royal?
Yes — rex gives regal, royal and the Indian raja.
How popular is Regis?
8950th in the United States, and it no longer ranks in France.
Is Regis a girl's or a boy's name?
Regis is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Regis?
Regis has 2 syllables.
Is Regis a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Regis currently ranks #8,950 in France. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.