Reva - Name Meaning and Popularity -

Meaning of Reva

Reva, pronounced REE-vuh, is a feminine given name that threads together several linguistic and cultural lineages: in classical Sanskrit it is both an epithet for the swift, “roaring” Narmadā River and, by metonymy, a title borne by the river-goddess herself; in modern Hebrew and Yiddish it appears as a clipped form of Rivka, thereby inheriting the biblical nuance of “to bind” or “to join”; and, through a coincidental echo of the French rêve, it may also evoke the concept of “dream” for English speakers attuned to Romance vocabulary. Documented in American vital-statistics records since the late nineteenth century, the name rose gradually to a historical zenith in the 1920s, then settled into a long-term pattern of modest yet steady use—approximately sixty occurrences per year during the last half-decade, a frequency that anchors it near the 900th position on contemporary national charts. Dramatic representations such as Reva Shayne of the soap opera Guiding Light and, more recently, Reva Sevander in the Star Wars canon have refreshed public familiarity without pushing the name into overt popularity, leaving Reva to retain its analytical appeal: crisp bisyllabic cadence, straightforward phonetics, and a multicultural semantic portfolio that quietly rewards parents who favor brevity coupled with depth.