| Herman | Reginald | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Army man / soldier | counsel-ruler |
| Origin | germanic | germanic |
| Gender | Boy | Boy |
| Pronunciation | HUR-mun | REJ-ih-nuld |
| Syllables | 2 | 3 |
| First appeared | 0 | 0 |
| Peak year | 1921 (3,219) | 1962 (2,647) |
| In 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Trend | Vintage | Vintage |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Herman | Reginald |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 321 | 1,155 |
| 2010s | 750 | 3,068 |
| 2000s | 1,103 | 5,271 |
| 1990s | 1,957 | 9,724 |
| 1980s | 3,124 | 13,500 |
| 1970s | 4,761 | 17,191 |
| 1960s | 8,360 | 24,921 |
| 1950s | 13,832 | 19,338 |
| 1940s | 16,856 | 7,090 |
| 1930s | 20,319 | 3,864 |
| 1920s | 29,011 | 3,699 |
| 1910s | 22,598 | 1,929 |
| 1900s | 5,064 | 439 |
| 1890s | 4,232 | 231 |
| 1880s | 3,689 | 131 |
From Germanic 'heri' (army) and 'man' (man), giving 'man of the army, soldier'. The Latinized Arminius refers to the same Cheruscan war-leader.
From Germanic 'ragin' ('counsel, advice') + 'wald' ('rule, power'), i.e. 'ruler by counsel' / 'counsel-power'. Note: this is 'ruler/power', NOT literally 'king'. Reynold and Ronald are closely related forms.
Herman and Reginald are given to a similar number of US babies today.
Herman means Army man / soldier (germanic origin), while Reginald means counsel-ruler (germanic origin).
In US records, Herman first appears in 0 and Reginald in 0, so Herman has the longer recorded history.