Regina carries 183,476 cumulative American girls on SSA record and currently sits at rank 340, with a deep historical peak in 1962. The chart shows the slow erosion of a once-mainstream classic: dominant top-100 presence through the 1950s and 1960s, gradual decline across the 1970s and 1980s, sharper drop through the 1990s and 2000s, and a stable lower-mainstream plateau across the 2010s and 2020s.
The Latin source
Regina derives directly from the Latin regina meaning "queen," feminine of rex (king). The name carries enormous Catholic religious weight as one of the titles of the Virgin Mary (Regina Caeli, "Queen of Heaven," and Salve Regina, "Hail Holy Queen"), and Saint Regina, a 3rd-century French Christian martyr, gave the name early devotional anchoring.
The medieval and early-modern European use was modest, but Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German Catholic naming traditions kept the name in continuous low circulation. The 20th-century American climb came from multiple directions at once: Italian-American and Polish-American Catholic families, Latin-American naming traditions, and broader mid-century interest in Latin-classical girls' names alongside Roma, Bella, and Donna.
The Mean Girls and pop-culture register
Regina George, the antagonist of the 2004 film Mean Girls, gave the name an unmistakable pop-culture register for a generation of viewers. The character's prominence has likely contributed to the name's continued lower-mainstream stability rather than accelerating the decline, since pop-culture villains often keep names in cultural circulation more effectively than heroes do. Browse the broader Latin girl names cluster.
The counter-reading
The literal-meaning weight is the practical issue. Regina's transparent connection to "queen" gives the name a clear positive register but also creates a slight prescriptive expectation. Some bearers find the meaning empowering; others find it slightly burdensome to live up to. Word-derived names always carry some version of this load, and Regina's transparency makes it more pronounced.
The pronunciation forks slightly: ruh-JEE-nuh is the dominant American reading, while ruh-JIE-nuh (with a long-I middle) surfaces occasionally and carries slightly different ethnic associations. The bearer will spend a lifetime confirming her family's preferred reading, particularly in Catholic-school and church contexts where the Latin liturgical form may carry weight.
Sibling pairings work across the Latin-classical cluster: Regina and Serena, Regina and Camilla, Regina and Aurelia, Regina and Theresa. Middle names tend traditional: Regina Marie, Regina Rose, Regina Catherine, Regina Anne. The Reggie and Gina nicknames are both available, with Gina carrying a strong Italian-American register and Reggie reading as more vintage-androgynous. See similar declining classics on the falling names list.