Ridley
A masculine name from an Old English surname meaning "woodland clearing".
Name Census estimates that about 2,600 living Americans carry the first name Ridley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 53.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Ridley today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ridley births was 2018 (213 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ridley. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Ridley sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Ridley is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 131,829 Americans
Peak year
2018
213 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,930
Tracked since 1915
Gender
Gender distribution for Ridley
Ridley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,726 total registrations, 1,457 (53.4%) were male and 1,269 (46.6%) were female.
Ridley as a male name
- Ranked #2,248 in 2024
- 64 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (92 births)
Ridley as a female name
- Ranked #1,930 in 2024
- 103 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (124 births)
Popularity
Ridley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ridley from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,293 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ridley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ridley by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ridley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ridleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Ridley, while Utah, New York, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ridley
The name Ridley has its origins in Old English, derived from the words "rycg" meaning "ridge" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "clearing". It is believed to have been originally a place name, referring to a meadow located on a ridge. The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the late 11th century.
In terms of historical references, the name Ridley is mentioned in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of a great survey commissioned in 1085 by William the Conqueror. This suggests that the name was already in use in England during the Norman period.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ridley as a personal name is Nicholas Ridley (c. 1500 - 1555), an English Protestant bishop who played a key role in the English Reformation and was martyred during the reign of Queen Mary I.
Another notable figure was Humphrey Ridley (c. 1653 - 1708), an English clergyman and author who wrote several works on theology and religious philosophy.
In the 18th century, James Ridley (1736 - 1765) was a British explorer and navigator who made several important voyages to the Pacific Ocean and is credited with being one of the first Europeans to visit Tahiti.
Moving into the 19th century, Matthew Ridley (1835 - 1888) was a prominent English industrialist and Member of Parliament who played a significant role in the development of the coal and iron industries in the northeast of England.
In the realm of literature, J. Whyborne Ridley (1864 - 1935) was an English author and poet who wrote several works of fiction and non-fiction, including biographies of notable figures such as William Shakespeare and John Milton.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Ridley, demonstrating its long-standing presence and use throughout various periods and contexts.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ridley
People
Ridley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ridley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ridley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ridley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,600 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ridley going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 131,829 US residents.
Is Ridley a common name?
We classify Ridley as "Rare". It ranks above 94.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,726 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ridley most popular?
The single biggest year for Ridley was 2018, when 213 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ridley is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ridley a male name?
Yes, 53.4% of people registered as Ridley in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.