Rhiley
A variant spelling of Riley, an anglicized form of the Irish name Raghallaigh.
Name Census estimates that about 1,174 living Americans carry the first name Rhiley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Rhiley today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rhiley births was 2010 (81 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rhiley. 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 Rhiley with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Rhiley is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 291,954 Americans
Peak year
2010
81 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,555
Tracked since 1995
Census
Rhiley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 885 people with the first name Rhiley, which placed it at #13,587 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
#13,587
National first-name rank
People counted
885
885 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rhiley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rhiley is White at 57.5%. The next largest groups are Black (24.7%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Rhiley 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 Rhiley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.5% · 509
- Black or African American24.7% · 219
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 70
- Two or more races6.6% · 58
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Rhiley
Rhiley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,186 total registrations, 285 (24.0%) were male and 901 (76.0%) were female.
Rhiley as a male name
- Ranked #9,652 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (29 births)
Rhiley as a female name
- Ranked #5,555 in 2024
- 23 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (60 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rhiley on both sides of the split. Of the 887 people counted with this name, 240 were male (27.1%) and 647 were female (72.9%).
Popularity
Rhiley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rhiley from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 631 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rhiley 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 Rhiley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rhileys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Rhiley, while Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rhiley
The name Rhiley is a relatively modern and unique variation of the more traditional name Riley. Its origins can be traced back to the Old English words "ric" meaning brave or powerful, and "leah" meaning a meadow or clearing. The name Riley itself was initially used as a surname in England, derived from place names like Riley in Lancashire.
The earliest recorded use of the name Rhiley as a given name is relatively recent, emerging in the late 20th century. It is speculated that this spelling variation may have been influenced by the rise in popularity of unique and creative name choices during this period. However, there are no definitive historical records or ancient texts that directly reference the specific spelling "Rhiley".
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Rhiley was Rhiley Boggs, an American singer-songwriter born in 1987. She gained recognition for her work in the indie-folk genre and released several albums in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Another notable figure with this name is Rhiley Ross, a Canadian actress born in 1991. She is best known for her roles in television series such as "The 100" and "Supernatural".
In the world of sports, Rhiley Williamson is an American professional basketball player born in 1994. She played college basketball at the University of Texas before being drafted by the Seattle Storm in the WNBA in 2017.
Rhiley Collier, born in 1998, is a British model and social media influencer. She has graced the covers of several fashion magazines and has amassed a significant following on platforms like Instagram.
Lastly, Rhiley Kellogg, born in 2002, is an American artistic gymnast. She has represented the United States at various international competitions and won several medals in her junior career.
While the name Rhiley is relatively modern and unique, it carries the essence of strength and beauty associated with its more traditional counterpart, Riley. Its growing popularity in recent years reflects the desire for distinctive and meaningful names that stand out from the crowd.
People
Rhiley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rhiley 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
Rhiley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rhiley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,174 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rhiley 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 291,954 US residents.
Is Rhiley a common name?
We classify Rhiley as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,186 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rhiley most popular?
The single biggest year for Rhiley was 2010, when 81 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rhiley is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rhiley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 885 people with the name Rhiley, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,587 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 Rhiley 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 Rhiley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rhiley on both sides of the split. Of the 887 people counted with this name, 240 were male (27.1%) and 647 were female (72.9%). 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 Rhiley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rhiley is White at 57.5%. The next largest groups are Black (24.7%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Rhiley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rhiley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.5% (509 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 Rhiley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rhiley a female name?
Yes, 76.0% of people registered as Rhiley 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 Rhiley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rhiley 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 Rhiley 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 Rhiley?
Want to know how many people share the name Rhiley? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.