Riyad
An Arabic masculine name meaning "gardens" or "meadows".
Name Census estimates that about 414 living Americans carry the first name Riyad. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Riyad today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Riyad births was 2017 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Riyad. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Riyad with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
414
~ 1 in 827,909 Americans
Peak year
2017
21 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,592
Tracked since 1976
Census
Riyad in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 588 people with the first name Riyad, which placed it at #18,347 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#18,347
National first-name rank
People counted
588
588 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Riyad
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Riyad is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Riyad described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Riyad at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.5% · 391
- Black or African American13.3% · 78
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.4% · 73
- Two or more races6.0% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Riyad: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Riyad from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 182 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Riyad remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Riyad 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 Riyad during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Riyads live
Origin
Meaning and history of Riyad
The name Riyad finds its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "riyad," which means "gardens" or "meadows." The name is believed to have originated in the Arabian Peninsula during the early Islamic era, around the 7th century AD.
In Arabic literature and poetry, the word "riyad" is often used as a metaphor for beauty, fertility, and paradise. The name Riyad is therefore associated with concepts of paradise, lush greenery, and tranquility. It is a popular name among Arabic-speaking communities, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Riyad can be found in the "Kitab al-Aghani" (Book of Songs), a famous anthology of Arabic poetry and songs compiled in the 9th century AD. The book mentions a poet named Riyad al-Qurtubi, who lived in the 8th century AD in the city of Cordoba, which was part of the Umayyad Caliphate at the time.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Riyad. One of the most famous was Riyad Pasha (1835-1911), an Ottoman statesman and the longest-serving Prime Minister of the Sublime Ottoman State, holding office from 1878 to 1909. Another well-known individual was Riyad al-Maliki (1922-2004), an Iraqi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Iraq from 1966 to 1967.
In the field of literature, Riyad Qassem (1923-2003) was a prominent Syrian novelist and short story writer, known for his works that explored social issues and the complexities of human relationships. Riyad Ismat (1918-2007) was a renowned Egyptian actor and comedian who appeared in numerous films and television shows, and is considered one of the most influential figures in Arabic cinema.
Riyad Farid Hijab (born 1966) is a Syrian politician and former Prime Minister of Syria, serving from 2012 to 2016. He currently leads the Syrian National Coalition, an opposition group seeking to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad.
The name Riyad has remained popular among Arabic-speaking communities worldwide, with its association with beauty, tranquility, and paradise continuing to resonate with many parents in their choice of names for their children.
People
Riyad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Riyad 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
Riyad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Riyad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 414 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Riyad 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 827,909 US residents.
Is Riyad a common name?
We classify Riyad as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 420 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Riyad most popular?
The single biggest year for Riyad was 2017, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Riyad is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Riyad in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 588 people with the name Riyad, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,347 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Riyad in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Riyad?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Riyad leans strongly male. 575 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 9 female bearers (1.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Riyad?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Riyad is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Riyad most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Riyad in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.5% (391 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Riyad in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Riyad a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Riyad 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 Riyad still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Riyad 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 Riyad 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.
How common is the name Riyad?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Riyad at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.