Rex is from the Latin rex (king). A modern American baby name in the broader unisex-classical aesthetic. Rex Harrison (1908-1990) — male; English actor; Academy Award for Best Actor for My Fair Lady (1964) — the iconic musical adaptation that swept the 1965 Oscars winning 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture; Cleopatra (1963) opposite Elizabeth Taylor; Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (1957) for the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady; knighted by Queen Elizabeth II (1989). Oedipus Rex (c. 429 BCE) — Sophocles's foundational Greek tragedy; the title means "Oedipus the King"; Aristotle's Poetics analyzed it as the perfect tragedy; the source of Freud's Oedipus Complex (covered separately under Jocasta); performed continuously for 2,500 years. Rex Tillerson (born 1952) — male; American businessman; 69th US Secretary of State (2017-2018); ExxonMobil CEO (2006-2016). Rex Reed (born 1938) — male; American film critic. Tyrannosaurus rex — iconic prehistoric dinosaur. *Rex (Disney's Toy Story)* — the anxious green tyrannosaurus voiced by Wallace Shawn. The name reflects the broader American taste for short, sharp Latin-classical names.
Featured throughout Greek tragedy and Hollywood.
Rex reduces to nine.