Riggins
An English surname derived from the Old English word "rigge" meaning "ridge".
Name Census estimates that about 892 living Americans carry the first name Riggins. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Riggins today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Riggins births was 2023 (128 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Riggins. 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
892
~ 1 in 384,254 Americans
Peak year
2023
128 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,678
Tracked since 2007
Census
Riggins in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 430 people with the first name Riggins, which placed it at #22,949 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
#22,949
National first-name rank
People counted
430
430 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Riggins
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Riggins is White at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Riggins 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 Riggins at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.4% · 380
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 19
- Two or more races4.2% · 18
- Black or African American2.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Riggins
Out of the 898 babies given the name Riggins since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Riggins as a male name
- Ranked #1,678 in 2024
- 100 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (128 births)
Riggins as a female name
- Ranked #18,563 in 2015
- 5 female births in 2015
- Peak: 2015 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Riggins leans strongly male. 412 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 17 female bearers (4.0%).
Popularity
Riggins: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Riggins from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 469 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
Riggins 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 Riggins during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Riggins' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Texas, Utah, Idaho recorded the most babies named Riggins, while Washington, South Carolina, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Riggins
The given name Riggins is believed to have originated from the Old English language, with its roots dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period in the 5th to 11th centuries. The name is derived from the Old English word "ricg," which referred to a ridge or back, possibly indicating that the name initially described someone who lived on or near a ridge.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Riggins can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and tenants in England compiled in 1086. This suggests that the name was already in use among the Anglo-Saxon population before the Norman Conquest in 1066.
In the Middle Ages, the name Riggins appeared in various historical records and manuscripts, though its usage was relatively uncommon. One notable figure bearing this name was Riggins of Berkhamsted, a 13th-century English abbot who oversaw the construction of the Lady Chapel at St. Albans Cathedral.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained some popularity among the English gentry and landed families. Sir John Riggins (1558-1623) was a prominent landowner and Member of Parliament for Wiltshire during the reign of King James I.
In the 17th century, the Puritan movement in England led to a resurgence of biblical and virtue names, which may have contributed to the continued use of Riggins, as it was seen as a strong and virtuous-sounding name.
Another noteworthy figure bearing the name Riggins was William Riggins (1760-1826), an English clergyman and author who wrote several theological works and served as the rector of St. Mary's Church in Warwickshire.
In the 19th century, the name Riggins crossed the Atlantic to the United States, where it was adopted by some families of English descent. One prominent American with this name was John Riggins (1829-1906), a Union Army officer during the American Civil War who later became a successful businessman and philanthropist in California.
Over the centuries, the name Riggins has maintained its presence, albeit in a relatively modest capacity, across various English-speaking regions. While not among the most common given names, it has been consistently used throughout history, often associated with individuals of notable standing in their respective communities.
People
Riggins + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Riggins 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
Riggins: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Riggins?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 892 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Riggins 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 384,254 US residents.
Is Riggins a common name?
We classify Riggins as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 898 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Riggins most popular?
The single biggest year for Riggins was 2023, when 128 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Riggins is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Riggins in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 430 people with the name Riggins, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,949 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 Riggins 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 Riggins?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Riggins leans strongly male. 412 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 17 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Riggins?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Riggins is White at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Riggins most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Riggins in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.4% (380 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 Riggins in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Riggins a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Riggins 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 Riggins still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Riggins 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 Riggins 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 common is the name Riggins?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Riggins on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.