Rielle
A feminine name derived from the French language meaning "daughter of the ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 576 living Americans carry the first name Rielle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rielle today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rielle births was 2010 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rielle. 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 Rielle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
576
~ 1 in 595,060 Americans
Peak year
2010
58 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,436
Tracked since 1994
Census
Rielle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 458 people with the first name Rielle, which placed it at #21,926 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
#21,926
National first-name rank
People counted
458
458 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rielle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rielle is White at 38.6%. The next largest groups are Black (31.7%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Rielle 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 Rielle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.6% · 177
- Black or African American31.7% · 145
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 50
- Two or more races10.7% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.1% · 37
Popularity
Rielle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rielle 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 372 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rielle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rielle 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 Rielle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rielles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Rielle, while Maryland, New Jersey, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rielle
The name Rielle is a French feminine given name derived from the Old French word "rielle," meaning "a small stream or brook." Its origin can be traced back to the medieval period in France, where it was likely used to describe someone who lived near a small creek or rivulet.
Rielle is a variant spelling of the more common French name Rielle, which has the same meaning and etymology. The name is also closely related to the Spanish name Ariel, which means "lion of God" in Hebrew.
While the name Rielle does not appear to have been widely recorded in ancient texts or religious scriptures, there are a few notable historical figures who bore this name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rielle was Rielle de Vavincourt, a French noblewoman who lived in the 13th century. She was a prominent figure in the court of King Louis IX of France, also known as Saint Louis.
Another notable figure was Rielle de Bourgogne, a 14th-century French aristocrat and courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria.
In the 16th century, Rielle Duperron was a French poet and playwright who gained recognition for her works, including the play "Les Chastes Amours."
During the 17th century, Rielle de Sévigné was a French aristocrat and famous letter writer whose correspondence provided valuable insights into the social and cultural life of her time.
In more recent history, Rielle Hunter (born Lisa Jo Druck in 1964) is an American former film producer and author who gained notoriety for her affair with former U.S. Senator John Edwards.
While the name Rielle is not as common as some other French names, it has a rich history and meaning rooted in the natural world and the cultural traditions of medieval France.
People
Rielle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rielle 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
Rielle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rielle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 576 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rielle 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 595,060 US residents.
Is Rielle a common name?
We classify Rielle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 581 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rielle most popular?
The single biggest year for Rielle was 2010, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rielle is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rielle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 458 people with the name Rielle, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,926 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 Rielle 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 Rielle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rielle leans strongly female. 454 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 9 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Rielle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rielle is White at 38.6%. The next largest groups are Black (31.7%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Rielle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rielle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.6% (177 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 Rielle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rielle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rielle 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 Rielle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rielle 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 Rielle 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 Rielle?
Want to know how many Americans are named Rielle? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.