Rickey
Derived from the Middle English name "Richard", it signifies powerful and brave.
Name Census estimates that about 50,722 living Americans carry the first name Rickey. It is a predominantly male name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Rickey today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rickey births was 1958 (3,818 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rickey. 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 Rickey with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Rickey is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 674 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Rickey have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
51K
~ 1 in 6,758 Americans
Peak year
1958
3,818 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,817
Tracked since 1924
Census
Rickey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 34,434 people with the first name Rickey, which placed it at #1,152 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
#1,152
National first-name rank
People counted
34K
34,434 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rickey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rickey is White at 61.1%. The next largest groups are Black (31.1%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Rickey 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 Rickey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.1% · 21,034
- Black or African American31.1% · 10,697
- Two or more races3.3% · 1,124
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 994
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 313
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 272
Gender
Gender distribution for Rickey
Rickey leans heavily male at 98.9% of total registrations, but 674 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rickey as a male name
- Ranked #2,817 in 2024
- 46 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1958 (3,782 births)
Rickey as a female name
- Ranked #12,541 in 1990
- 6 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1958 (36 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rickey appears almost entirely male. Of the 34,441 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Rickey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rickey from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 28,179 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rickey 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 Rickey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rickeys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, California, Alabama recorded the most babies named Rickey, while Vermont, Alaska, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,220 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rickey
The name Rickey is a diminutive form of the name Richard, which originated from the Germanic name Rikharthu. Rikharthu is a compound name derived from the words "rik" meaning ruler or power, and "harthu" meaning brave or hardy. The name Rickey was initially a nickname or pet form of Richard that emerged in medieval times.
During the Middle Ages, the name Richard gained popularity across Europe, particularly in England and France. It was commonly used among the nobility and royal families. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rickey can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of landowners commissioned by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest of England.
In religious texts, the name Rickey appears in some early Christian writings and manuscripts. However, its use was more prevalent in secular contexts, such as historical records and literary works. The name Rickey was associated with strength and power, reflecting its etymological roots.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Rickey was Rickey de Luci, a Norman nobleman and military commander who lived in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. He served as a trusted advisor to King William II of England and played a crucial role in the Norman conquest of Wales.
Another historically significant figure was Rickey of Wallingford, an English abbot and mathematician who lived in the 13th century. He made notable contributions to the field of astronomy and is credited with the invention of the first mechanical clock.
In the realm of literature, the name Rickey appears in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, the renowned English poet and author of "The Canterbury Tales." One of the characters in the prologue is described as "Rickey the Reeve," a steward or overseer of a manor.
During the Renaissance period, Rickey Tarlton (1535-1588) was a famous English actor and comedian known for his roles in Shakespearean plays and his improvisational skills on stage.
In more recent history, Rickey Henderson (born 1958) is a legendary American baseball player who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest leadoff hitters and base stealers in the history of the sport.
While the name Rickey has evolved from its Germanic origins, it has maintained a strong association with strength, resilience, and leadership throughout various periods of history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rickey
People
Rickey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rickey 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
Rickey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rickey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 50,722 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rickey 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 6,758 US residents.
Is Rickey a common name?
We classify Rickey as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 62,340 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rickey most popular?
The single biggest year for Rickey was 1958, when 3,818 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rickey is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rickey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 34,434 people with the name Rickey, or 11.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,152 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 Rickey 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 Rickey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rickey appears almost entirely male. Of the 34,441 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Rickey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rickey is White at 61.1%. The next largest groups are Black (31.1%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Rickey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rickey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.1% (21,034 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 Rickey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rickey a male name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Rickey 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 Rickey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rickey 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 Rickey 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 are named Rickey?
Find out how many people share the name Rickey on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.