Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Reef?
Births per year, rank history and how many Reefs are alive today.
Reef (male) is a rare boys' name in England and Wales, ranked 3256th in 2025 and given to 6 babies. The name peaked in 1999, when 22 babies were given the name, the 750th most popular that year. It was almost as popular in 2007, with 22 babies given the name that year. It has declined since 1999; the 2025 figure is roughly 27% of its peak.
The Reef you are most likely to meet is around 20 years old - or else around 8: the name has two living generations. Half of all Reefs born in England and Wales are between 9 and 24, and there are at least 400 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's less than a 1% chance that anyone will be called Reef - on average, only one in every 758 such rooms contains a Reef.
How many babies are named Reef each year?
Where does Reef rank among boys' names?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Reef most popular?
Reef peaked in 1999, when 22 babies in England and Wales were given the name.
How many people are called Reef?
At least 400 people named Reef born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Reef?
Most living Reefs are between 9 and 24; the most common age is about 20. There is a second cluster around 8.
Is Reef becoming more or less popular?
Well past its peak: today's figures are a fraction of the 1999 peak, though numbers have levelled off in recent years.