as a First Name
In some cases a transferred use of the English surname, a local name from a place named with Old English ryge ‘rye’ + lēah ‘wood, clearing’. There is one such place in Devon and another in Lancashire. In other cases it probably represents a respelling of the Irish surname Reilly, which is from an old Irish personal name, Raghallach, of unknown origin. While it is presently more popular for boys than girls in Britain, the converse is true in the United States.
| 1,508th in the U.S. for 2011 |
Nicknames & variations
Quick facts
- Thousands
- of people in the U.S have this name
- 16,971
- to be exact (as of February 2011)
- 132,260
- if you include dead people (since the government started keeping track)
- Utah
- has the most people named Riley per capita
- 2008
- marked the height of its popularity
47%
53%
2%
55+
55+
0.98%
30-54
30-54
8%
13-29
13-29
89%
0-12
0-12
Top state populations
U.S. Distribution Map
