Ryla
A feminine name of Aboriginal Australian origin meaning "wind-eroded rock formation".
Name Census estimates that about 804 living Americans carry the first name Ryla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ryla today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ryla births was 2024 (101 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ryla. 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 Ryla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
804
~ 1 in 426,311 Americans
Peak year
2024
101 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,962
Tracked since 2003
Census
Ryla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 466 people with the first name Ryla, which placed it at #21,679 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
#21,679
National first-name rank
People counted
466
466 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ryla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryla is White at 64.6%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Two or More Races (9.9%). 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 Ryla 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 Ryla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.6% · 301
- Black or African American12.2% · 57
- Two or more races9.9% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino7.5% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 9
Popularity
Ryla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ryla from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 363 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
Ryla 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 Ryla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rylas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Ryla, while Louisiana, Minnesota, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ryla
The name Ryla is thought to have originated from the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan tongue that was the root of many modern Indian languages. Its earliest known roots can be traced back to the 2nd century BCE, where it was derived from the Sanskrit word "rila," meaning "playful" or "joyous."
In ancient Hindu texts, Ryla is mentioned as a minor deity associated with music, dance, and celebration. Some scholars believe that this name may have been bestowed upon children born during festivals or auspicious occasions. The earliest recorded use of Ryla as a personal name dates back to the 5th century CE, found in Buddhist scriptures from the Indian subcontinent.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Ryla was a 7th-century Indian poet and philosopher, Ryla Shastri, who was renowned for her contributions to the field of linguistic studies. Her work on the grammatical structure of Sanskrit is still widely referenced in academic circles.
In the 11th century, Ryla Devi, a princess from the Chola dynasty in southern India, was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for the construction of several iconic temples in the region.
During the Mughal Empire in the 16th century, Ryla Begum was a prominent figure in the court of Emperor Akbar. She was an influential advisor and played a crucial role in shaping the cultural and artistic landscape of the empire.
Another notable figure was Ryla Bai, a 19th-century Indian classical dancer and courtesan, who was celebrated for her mastery of the Kathak dance form and her contribution to reviving the art during a period of decline.
Ryla Goswami, born in 1923, was a renowned Indian freedom fighter and social activist who dedicated her life to empowering women and promoting education in rural areas of the country.
People
Ryla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ryla 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
Ryla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ryla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 804 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ryla 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 426,311 US residents.
Is Ryla a common name?
We classify Ryla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 810 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ryla most popular?
The single biggest year for Ryla was 2024, when 101 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ryla is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ryla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 466 people with the name Ryla, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,679 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 Ryla 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 Ryla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ryla leans strongly female. 459 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 9 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Ryla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryla is White at 64.6%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Two or More Races (9.9%). 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 Ryla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ryla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.6% (301 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 Ryla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ryla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ryla in the SSA data are female. 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 Ryla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ryla 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 Ryla 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 Ryla as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.