Ryley
Of English origin, a blend of the names Ryan and Riley.
Name Census estimates that about 7,026 living Americans carry the first name Ryley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 53.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Ryley today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ryley births was 2007 (372 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ryley. 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 Ryley with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Ryley sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
7.0K
~ 1 in 48,784 Americans
Peak year
2007
372 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,171
Tracked since 1981
Census
Ryley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,434 people with the first name Ryley, which placed it at #3,307 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
#3,307
National first-name rank
People counted
6.4K
6,434 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ryley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryley is White at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.6%) 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 Ryley 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 Ryley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.4% · 5,236
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 425
- Two or more races5.8% · 373
- Black or African American3.5% · 223
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 107
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 70
Gender
Gender distribution for Ryley
Ryley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 7,128 total registrations, 3,826 (53.7%) were male and 3,302 (46.3%) were female.
Ryley as a male name
- Ranked #5,387 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (186 births)
Ryley as a female name
- Ranked #4,171 in 2024
- 35 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (186 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ryley on both sides of the split. Of the 6,431 people counted with this name, 3,405 were male (52.9%) and 3,026 were female (47.1%).
Popularity
Ryley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ryley from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,179 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ryley 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 Ryley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ryleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Ryley, while Montana, Kansas, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 100 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ryley
The name Ryley has its roots in the Old English language and is believed to have originated as a habitational surname, referring to someone who lived near a rye field or a rye meadow. It is derived from the Old English words "ryge" meaning "rye" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "clearing."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ryley can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a manuscript record of the great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror. In this document, the name is spelled "Rigeleie" and is listed as a place name in Derbyshire, England.
As a given name, Ryley began to gain popularity in the late 20th century, especially in English-speaking countries like the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It is often considered a unisex name, but is more commonly used for boys.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Ryley:
1. Ryley Batt (1925-2014), an Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (now known as the Australian Football League).
2. Ryley Walker (born 1989), an American singer-songwriter and guitarist known for his blend of folk, rock, and jazz influences.
3. Ryley Adolescent Unit, a former residential treatment facility for adolescents located in Ryley, Alberta, Canada, which operated from the late 1960s to the early 2000s.
4. Ryley Towler (born 2003), a Canadian child actor known for his role as Finn in the television series "The Haunting Hour."
5. Ryley Jacks (born 1993), an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Melbourne Storm in the NRL.
While the name Ryley may not have a long and illustrious history like some other names, its connection to the English countryside and its increasing popularity in recent decades have contributed to its unique charm and appeal.
People
Ryley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ryley 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
Ryley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ryley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,026 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ryley 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 48,784 US residents.
Is Ryley a common name?
We classify Ryley as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,128 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ryley most popular?
The single biggest year for Ryley was 2007, when 372 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ryley is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ryley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,434 people with the name Ryley, or 2.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,307 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 Ryley 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 Ryley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ryley on both sides of the split. Of the 6,431 people counted with this name, 3,405 were male (52.9%) and 3,026 were female (47.1%). 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 Ryley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryley is White at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.6%) 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 Ryley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ryley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.4% (5,236 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 Ryley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ryley a male name?
Yes, 53.7% of people registered as Ryley 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 Ryley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ryley 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 Ryley 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 share the name Ryley?
Want to know how many Americans are named Ryley? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.