| Ren | Ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Lotus; love | dragon |
| Origin | Japanese | japanese |
| Gender | Boy | Boy |
| Pronunciation | REN | ryoo |
| Syllables | 1 | 1 |
| First appeared | 1915 | 1985 |
| Peak year | 2025 (213) | 2012 (130) |
| In 2025 | 213 | 59 |
| Trend | Near its peak | Steady |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Ren | Ryu |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 1,101 | 483 |
| 2010s | 759 | 741 |
| 2000s | 280 | 372 |
| 1990s | 192 | 77 |
| 1980s | 201 | 12 |
| 1970s | 33 | 0 |
| 1960s | 65 | 0 |
| 1950s | 70 | 0 |
| 1940s | 59 | 0 |
| 1930s | 19 | 0 |
| 1920s | 22 | 0 |
| 1910s | 17 | 0 |
Ren is often written with the kanji for “lotus” or “love,” depending on the characters.
From Japanese 龍 / 竜 (ryuu) 'dragon'. Hedge: more often a dragon-bearing element within compound names than a standalone given name, and the same sound is written with other kanji meaning 'noble/prosperous' (隆), 'flow' (流) or 'lapis lazuli' (琉); the dragon meaning applies to the 龍/竜 spelling. Romanized Ryu or Ryuu (the macron/double-u marks a long vowel).
Ren is more popular than Ryu today: about 213 US babies were given the name Ren in 2025, compared with 59 named Ryu.
Ren means Lotus; love (Japanese origin), while Ryu means dragon (japanese origin).
In US records, Ren first appears in 1915 and Ryu in 1985, so Ren has the longer recorded history.