French word name meaning queen, from Latin 'regina'.
Reine is the French word and name meaning "queen," descended directly from the Latin regina, which shares its root with rex, the word for king. As a given name it has been used in French-speaking cultures for centuries, a way of conferring upon a daughter the dignity and sovereignty implied by queenship without the self-seriousness of naming her Regina. In French the word is pronounced approximately REN, with a soft nasal quality that gives it elegance without ostentation.
The name has Scandinavian roots as well — in Danish and Norwegian, Reine (or Reine as a place name in Norway's Lofoten archipelago) appears frequently, though in those contexts it often derives from different etymological sources related to the Old Norse for "clean" or "pure." This dual heritage — Latin royalty and Nordic purity — gives Reine an unusual depth for such a short name. Saint Regina, a third-century Burgundian martyr, was venerated across medieval France, and her feast day on September 7 helped sustain the name through the Christian calendar.
Reine is vanishingly rare as an English-language given name, which is precisely its appeal for parents drawn to French vocabulary names. It stands apart from the Reign spelling, which has circulated in American celebrity naming circles, because Reine carries the weight of French cultural history and a single, clean linguistic meaning. It is a name that travels lightly and arrives with authority — one syllable, complete, utterly self-assured.