Ridgely
From a ridge or hill, a reference to geographical origins.
Name Census estimates that about 118 living Americans carry the first name Ridgely. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 79.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Ridgely today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ridgely births was 2023 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ridgely. 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
118
~ 1 in 2,904,698 Americans
Peak year
2023
10 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,914
Tracked since 1946
Census
Ridgely in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 253 people with the first name Ridgely, which placed it at #32,947 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
#32,947
National first-name rank
People counted
253
253 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ridgely
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ridgely is White at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.1%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Ridgely 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 Ridgely at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.1% · 223
- Black or African American5.1% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 7
- Two or more races2.0% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Ridgely
Ridgely is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 134 total registrations, 106 (79.1%) were male and 28 (20.9%) were female.
Ridgely as a male name
- Ranked #12,000 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (10 births)
Ridgely as a female name
- Ranked #11,914 in 2020
- 8 female births in 2020
- Peak: 2017 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ridgely on both sides of the split. Of the 245 people counted with this name, 155 were male (63.3%) and 90 were female (36.7%).
Popularity
Ridgely: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ridgely from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 39 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ridgely 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 Ridgely during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ridgely
The given name Ridgely originates from the Old English language, derived from the words "hrycg" meaning ridge and "leah" meaning meadow or clearing. It was initially a surname in England, referring to a person who lived near a ridge or hillside meadow.
In the early Middle Ages, around the 8th to 10th centuries, the name began to appear in various records and documents across parts of England and the British Isles. Some early variations in spelling include Ridgeley, Ridgley, and Ridglie.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Ridgely de Risley, a Norman landowner recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, which surveyed landholdings across England after the Norman Conquest. This suggests the name had already been established in certain areas of England by that time.
During the medieval period, the name Ridgely was occasionally referenced in religious texts and chronicles, though it remained relatively uncommon compared to more popular given names of the era.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Ridgely Peckover (c. 1520 - 1585) was a wealthy merchant and landowner from Norfolk, England. He was involved in the wool trade and held influential positions in local government.
In the 17th century, Ridgely Owen (1649 - 1708) was a Welsh clergyman and author who published several theological works and served as the Archdeacon of St. Asaph.
The name gained some prominence in the American colonies, with Ridgely Roush (1711 - 1790), a Quaker settler and landowner in Pennsylvania, being one of the earliest recorded bearers of the name in the New World.
Another notable individual was Ridgely Goldsborough (1804 - 1864), a Maryland politician who served as the 21st Governor of Maryland from 1861 to 1864, during the American Civil War.
In the 19th century, Ridgely Brevoort (1822 - 1898) was an American author and journalist who published works on various topics, including travel and history.
While not an extremely common name, Ridgely has maintained a presence throughout history, with individuals bearing the name in various fields and professions across different time periods and regions.
People
Ridgely + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ridgely 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
Ridgely: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ridgely?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 118 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ridgely 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 2,904,698 US residents.
Is Ridgely a common name?
We classify Ridgely as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 134 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ridgely most popular?
The single biggest year for Ridgely was 2023, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ridgely is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ridgely in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 253 people with the name Ridgely, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,947 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 Ridgely 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 Ridgely?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ridgely on both sides of the split. Of the 245 people counted with this name, 155 were male (63.3%) and 90 were female (36.7%). 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 Ridgely?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ridgely is White at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.1%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Ridgely most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ridgely in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.1% (223 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 Ridgely in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ridgely a male name?
Yes, 79.1% of people registered as Ridgely 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 Ridgely still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ridgely 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 Ridgely 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 Ridgely?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.