Rigley
An English surname transferred to masculine given name of unclear origin.
Name Census estimates that about 198 living Americans carry the first name Rigley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Rigley today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rigley births was 2009 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rigley. 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.
People living today
198
~ 1 in 1,731,083 Americans
Peak year
2009
20 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,147
Tracked since 2008
Gender
Gender distribution for Rigley
Rigley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 199 total registrations, 156 (78.4%) were male and 43 (21.6%) were female.
Rigley as a male name
- Ranked #7,147 in 2024
- 12 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (14 births)
Rigley as a female name
- Ranked #12,270 in 2018
- 8 female births in 2018
- Peak: 2017 (9 births)
Popularity
Rigley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rigley from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 118 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rigley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rigley 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 Rigley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rigley
The name Rigley is a unique and intriguing one, with a rich history that spans across various cultures and epochs. Its origins can be traced back to the ancient Germanic tribes, where it was derived from the Old Norse word "rigr," meaning "powerful" or "mighty." This association with strength and valor is a recurring theme throughout the name's evolution.
In the early medieval period, the name Rigley emerged as a variant of the Germanic name "Rigolf," which combined the elements "rig" (powerful) and "wulf" (wolf). This name was particularly popular among the Saxons and Franks, who revered the wolf as a symbol of courage and ferocity in battle.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rigley can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Here, the name appears as "Righelai," referring to a landholder in the county of Shropshire.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Rigley gained prominence in various regions of Europe. In England, it was sometimes spelled as "Rigley" or "Riggeley," and several notable individuals bore this name. One such person was Sir John Rigley (c. 1350-1412), a knight and landowner in Cheshire who fought alongside the Black Prince during the Hundred Years' War.
In the 16th century, the name Rigley found its way to the New World, carried by English settlers to the American colonies. One of the earliest recorded instances is that of William Rigley (c. 1590-1660), a Puritan who arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s and later became a prominent figure in the settlement of Hartford, Connecticut.
Another notable bearer of the name was Ambrose Rigley (1724-1799), a British-born soldier and surveyor who served in the French and Indian War and later played a role in the American Revolutionary War, surveying the boundaries of Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In the 19th century, the name Rigley gained further visibility through individuals like John Rigley (1778-1844), a British inventor and engineer who pioneered the use of steam power in textile mills, and Samuel Rigley (1863-1937), a Welsh-born Baptist minister and author who served in numerous congregations across England and Wales.
As the centuries progressed, the name Rigley continued to be carried by individuals from diverse backgrounds and professions, each contributing to its rich tapestry of history and meaning.
People
Rigley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rigley 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
Rigley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rigley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 198 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rigley 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 1,731,083 US residents.
Is Rigley a common name?
We classify Rigley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 199 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rigley most popular?
The single biggest year for Rigley was 2009, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rigley is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Rigley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rigley a male name?
Yes, 78.4% of people registered as Rigley 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.
Is Rigley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rigley in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Rigley can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Rigley?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.