Rip
Short for the masculine name Rippert, derived from the German words "rib" and "pracht" meaning "brilliant glory".
Name Census estimates that about 586 living Americans carry the first name Rip. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rip today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rip births was 2021 (111 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rip. 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
586
~ 1 in 584,905 Americans
Peak year
2021
111 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,124
Tracked since 1938
Popularity
Rip: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rip from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 411 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rip 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 Rip during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rips live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Texas, California, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Rip, while Tennessee, Ohio, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rip
The name Rip is a shortened form of the Dutch name Rip van Winkle, which is derived from the fictional character of the same name in Washington Irving's 1819 short story "Rip Van Winkle". The story is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War and tells the tale of a Dutch-American villager who falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains and wakes up 20 years later, having missed the entire war.
The name Rip is not derived from any ancient language or culture but is instead a modern invention inspired by literature. The character's name itself is believed to be a play on the Dutch phrase "rip van de dunkt" which means "a tearing from the stem", a reference to the character's tendency to wander away from his responsibilities.
While the name Rip did not exist prior to the publication of Irving's story, it quickly gained popularity as a given name in the 19th century, particularly in the United States and other English-speaking countries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rip being used as a given name was for Rip Raps, an American baseball player who was born in 1838 and played for various teams in the early days of professional baseball.
Another notable individual named Rip was Rip Torn, an American actor and comedian who was born in 1931 and had a prolific career spanning over six decades. He was known for his roles in films such as Men in Black and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.
Rip Sewell, an American baseball player born in 1907, was also a prominent figure who lent his name to the "rip pitch", an unusual pitching motion he developed that involved throwing the ball with a sharp downward spin.
In the music world, Rip Rig + Panic was a British post-punk band formed in 1981, named after a term used in the film Quadrophenia. The band's frontman was Rip Rig, whose real name was Sean O'Brien.
Lastly, Rip Taylor, an American actor and comedian born in 1935, was known for his flamboyant personality and his trademark of throwing confetti during his performances. He appeared in numerous television shows and films throughout his career.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rip
People
Rip + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rip 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
Rip: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rip?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 586 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rip 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 584,905 US residents.
Is Rip a common name?
We classify Rip as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 626 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rip most popular?
The single biggest year for Rip was 2021, when 111 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rip is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Rip a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rip 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.