Ryker
Of Scandinavian origin, meaning "mischievous, watchful guard".
Name Census estimates that about 39,411 living Americans carry the first name Ryker. It sits at #183 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Ryker today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ryker births was 2018 (3,290 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ryker. 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 Ryker with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ryker is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 546 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Ryker is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
39K
~ 1 in 8,697 Americans
Peak year
2018
3,290 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#183
Tracked since 1970
Census
Ryker in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 26,251 people with the first name Ryker, which placed it at #1,356 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
#1,356
National first-name rank
People counted
26K
26,251 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ryker
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryker is White at 85.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Ryker 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 Ryker at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.4% · 22,428
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 1,706
- Two or more races5.8% · 1,527
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 265
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 186
- Black or African American0.5% · 139
Gender
Gender distribution for Ryker
Ryker leans heavily male at 98.6% of total registrations, but 546 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ryker as a male name
- Ranked #183 in 2024
- 2,011 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (3,247 births)
Ryker as a female name
- Ranked #3,861 in 2024
- 39 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (50 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ryker leans strongly male. 25,916 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 338 female bearers (1.3%).
Popularity
Ryker: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ryker 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 24,215 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ryker remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ryker 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 Ryker during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rykers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, Utah, California recorded the most babies named Ryker, while Rhode Island, Delaware, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 764 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ryker
The name Ryker is a relatively modern name with origins that can be traced back to the late 20th century. It is believed to have originated as a variant of the Dutch surname Rijker, which means "rich" or "wealthy" in English.
The earliest known record of Ryker as a given name dates back to the late 1970s in the United States. It is thought to have been initially used as a masculine given name, perhaps inspired by its connection to the Dutch word rijker.
While there are no known historical figures or references to the name Ryker in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the name has gained popularity in recent decades, particularly in North America.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Ryker was Ryker Gracie, a Brazilian-American martial artist and member of the renowned Gracie family of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. He was born in 1983 and has competed in various mixed martial arts competitions.
Another notable individual with the name Ryker is Ryker Kavanaugh, an American actor and model born in 1995. He has appeared in several television shows and films, including "The Walking Dead" and "Ozark."
In the world of sports, Ryker Mathias is a Canadian professional ice hockey player born in 1998. He currently plays in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the Manitoba Moose.
Ryker Ryu is a Japanese-American professional wrestler and actor born in 1981. He has performed in several independent wrestling promotions and has also appeared in television shows and films.
Ryker Gamble is an American singer and songwriter born in 1998. He gained popularity on social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok, where he shares his original music and covers.
While the name Ryker is relatively new and its origins are not deeply rooted in history, it has gained a following among parents seeking unique and modern names for their children.
People
Ryker + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ryker 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
Ryker: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ryker?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 39,411 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ryker 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 8,697 US residents.
Is Ryker a common name?
We classify Ryker as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39,721 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ryker most popular?
The single biggest year for Ryker was 2018, when 3,290 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ryker is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ryker in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 26,251 people with the name Ryker, or 8.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,356 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 Ryker 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 Ryker?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ryker leans strongly male. 25,916 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 338 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Ryker?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryker is White at 85.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Ryker most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ryker in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.4% (22,428 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 Ryker in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ryker a male name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Ryker 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 Ryker still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ryker 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 Ryker 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 many people have the name Ryker?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Ryker, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.