Ryman
A masculine name with uncertain origins, possibly connected to "rye" grain.
Name Census estimates that about 199 living Americans carry the first name Ryman. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Ryman today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ryman births was 2019 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ryman. 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
199
~ 1 in 1,722,384 Americans
Peak year
2019
24 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,099
Tracked since 1925
Census
Ryman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 200 people with the first name Ryman, which placed it at #38,397 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
#38,397
National first-name rank
People counted
200
200 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ryman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryman is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Ryman 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 Ryman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.5% · 169
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 12
- Two or more races4.0% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 6
- Black or African American2.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Ryman
Ryman leans heavily male at 89.8% of total registrations, but 21 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ryman as a male name
- Ranked #6,099 in 2024
- 15 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (19 births)
Ryman as a female name
- Ranked #17,167 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ryman leans strongly male. 171 people counted with this name were male (85.9%), compared with 28 female bearers (14.1%).
Popularity
Ryman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ryman from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 112 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ryman remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ryman 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 Ryman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rymans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ryman
The given name Ryman has its origins dating back to the medieval period in England. It is derived from the Old English words "rym" meaning "spacious" and "mann" meaning "man". The name was initially used as a descriptive reference for someone who was tall or imposing in stature.
During the Middle Ages, the name Ryman was relatively common among the Anglo-Saxon population, particularly in the northern regions of England. It can be found in several historical records and church registers from that era, though its popularity waned after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ryman can be traced back to a 9th-century manuscript from the Kingdom of Northumbria. The document mentions a nobleman named Ryman who held lands near the present-day city of York. Unfortunately, little is known about his life or achievements.
In the 12th century, a monk named Ryman of Bury St. Edmunds gained recognition for his scholarly works on theology and philosophy. He was born in 1095 and lived until 1175, spending most of his life at the Benedictine monastery in Suffolk, England.
During the reign of King Edward III in the 14th century, a prominent military commander named Sir Ryman de Vere served in the Hundred Years' War against France. He was knighted for his valor on the battlefield and is mentioned in several chronicles from that period, though his exact birth and death dates are unclear.
In the late 16th century, a renowned English playwright and poet named Ryman Massinger was active in London's literary circles. He was born in 1583 and died in 1640, leaving behind a notable body of work that included tragedies and comedies for the Elizabethan stage.
Another notable figure with the name Ryman was a 17th-century English explorer and adventurer named Ryman Frobisher. He was born in 1535 and is best known for his attempts to discover a Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic. Frobisher's expeditions, though ultimately unsuccessful, contributed to the exploration and mapping of northeastern Canada.
People
Ryman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ryman 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
Ryman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ryman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 199 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ryman 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 1,722,384 US residents.
Is Ryman a common name?
We classify Ryman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 205 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ryman most popular?
The single biggest year for Ryman was 2019, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ryman is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ryman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 200 people with the name Ryman, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,397 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 Ryman 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 Ryman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ryman leans strongly male. 171 people counted with this name were male (85.9%), compared with 28 female bearers (14.1%). 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 Ryman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryman is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Ryman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ryman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (169 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 Ryman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ryman a male name?
Yes, 89.8% of people registered as Ryman 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 Ryman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ryman 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 Ryman 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 Ryman as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Ryman on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.