Riggs
A Germanic masculine name derived from surname meaning "brushwood ridge".
Name Census estimates that about 2,642 living Americans carry the first name Riggs. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Riggs today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Riggs births was 2024 (410 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Riggs. 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 Riggs with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Riggs is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 129,733 Americans
Peak year
2024
410 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#668
Tracked since 1992
Census
Riggs in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,004 people with the first name Riggs, which placed it at #12,402 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
#12,402
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,004 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Riggs
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Riggs is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.3%) and Hispanic (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 Riggs 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 Riggs at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.0% · 884
- Two or more races4.3% · 43
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 42
- Black or African American1.7% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Riggs
Out of the 2,662 babies given the name Riggs since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Riggs as a male name
- Ranked #668 in 2024
- 410 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (410 births)
Riggs as a female name
- Ranked #17,254 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Riggs leans strongly male. 986 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 21 female bearers (2.1%).
Popularity
Riggs: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Riggs from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 1,691 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
Riggs 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 Riggs during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Riggs' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Texas, Utah, Arizona recorded the most babies named Riggs, while New Jersey, Oregon, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 51 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Riggs
The given name Riggs has its origins in the English language, tracing back to the late 15th century. It is believed to have evolved from the Old English word "hrycg," which means "ridge" or "back," referring to a raised area of land or a person's back.
In its earliest recorded use, Riggs was primarily a surname, indicating a person who lived near a ridge or elevated area. However, over time, it transitioned into being used as a given name, particularly in England and later in other English-speaking regions.
One of the earliest documented references to the name Riggs can be found in the Paston Letters, a collection of correspondences from the Paston family in Norfolk, England, dated around the 15th century. In these letters, the name appears as a surname, suggesting its initial use as a descriptor for someone's place of residence or occupation.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Riggs. One of the earliest examples is Sir Edward Riggs (c. 1558-1636), an English lawyer and politician who served as a Member of Parliament during the reign of King James I.
Another prominent figure was Jonas Riggs (1677-1749), an American Quaker preacher and writer who played a significant role in the early settlement of Pennsylvania. His works, such as "A Treatise on Christian Discipline," influenced religious thought and practices in the colonial era.
In the 19th century, Riggs gained further recognition through the life of Stephen Return Riggs (1812-1883), a Presbyterian missionary and linguist who dedicated himself to the study and preservation of the Dakota language. His contributions included the development of a Dakota writing system and the translation of the Bible into the Dakota language.
Moving into the 20th century, one cannot overlook the legacy of Marvin Riggs (1899-1981), an American tennis player who won multiple Grand Slam titles in the 1920s and 1930s. His achievements included victories at Wimbledon and the U.S. National Championships (now the U.S. Open).
More recently, the name Riggs has been carried by notable figures like Bobby Riggs (1918-1995), a professional tennis player renowned for his famous "Battle of the Sexes" match against Billie Jean King in 1973, and Theodore Riggs (1923-2021), an American judge who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
While the name Riggs may have humble beginnings as a descriptor of geography, it has evolved into a given name with a rich history, borne by individuals who have left their mark across various fields, from law and religion to sports and public service.
People
Riggs + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Riggs 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
Riggs: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Riggs?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,642 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Riggs 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 129,733 US residents.
Is Riggs a common name?
We classify Riggs as "Rare". It ranks above 94.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,662 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Riggs most popular?
The single biggest year for Riggs was 2024, when 410 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Riggs 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 Riggs in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,004 people with the name Riggs, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,402 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 Riggs 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 Riggs?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Riggs leans strongly male. 986 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 21 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Riggs?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Riggs is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.3%) and Hispanic (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 Riggs most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Riggs in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.0% (884 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 Riggs in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Riggs a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Riggs 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 Riggs still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Riggs 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 Riggs 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 Riggs?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.