Rilynn
A modern invented name inspired by the Welsh name Rhiannon.
Name Census estimates that about 3,571 living Americans carry the first name Rilynn. It is a predominantly female name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Rilynn today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rilynn births was 2018 (264 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rilynn. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Rilynn is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 65 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Rilynn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.6K
~ 1 in 95,983 Americans
Peak year
2018
264 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2022 SSA rank
#1,770
Tracked since 1999
Census
Rilynn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,356 people with the first name Rilynn, which placed it at #6,720 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
#6,720
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,356 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rilynn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rilynn is White at 78.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Black (6.5%). 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 Rilynn 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 Rilynn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.3% · 1,844
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 183
- Black or African American6.5% · 154
- Two or more races5.7% · 134
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Rilynn
Rilynn leans heavily female at 98.2% of total registrations, but 65 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rilynn as a male name
- Ranked #13,902 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2014 (11 births)
Rilynn as a female name
- Ranked #1,770 in 2024
- 114 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (257 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rilynn leans strongly female. 2,305 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 55 male bearers (2.3%).
Popularity
Rilynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rilynn 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 2,303 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rilynn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rilynn 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 Rilynn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rilynns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Rilynn, while Nevada, New Mexico, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rilynn
The name Rilynn is a modern invention, likely created by combining the names Riley and Lynn. It does not have a clear origin or established linguistic roots in any particular language or culture.
The name Riley itself is an English surname that can be traced back to the 12th century. It may have originated from the Old English words "rig" meaning "ridge" or "rie" meaning "rye," indicating someone who lived on a ridge or near a field of rye. Historically, Riley was used as a masculine name but has become more popular as a feminine name in recent decades.
As for Lynn, it is a gender-neutral name derived from various sources, including the Old English word "linn" meaning "lake" or "waterfall," the Welsh word "llyn" meaning "lake," and the old Gaelic word "linn" meaning "pool" or "stream." It was initially used as a surname before gaining popularity as a given name.
While there are no clear historical references or famous individuals specifically named Rilynn, there have been notable people throughout history with the names Riley and Lynn.
Some famous individuals named Riley include Riley B. King, better known as the blues musician B.B. King (1925-2015), and Riley Stearns, an American filmmaker and actor born in 1986.
As for Lynn, some noteworthy individuals include Lynn Fontanne (1887-1983), an English actress who won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, and Lynn Margulis (1938-2011), an American evolutionary biologist and scientific author.
Other individuals named Lynn include Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010), an English actress known for her work in films like "Georgy Girl" and "Gods and Monsters," and Lynn Shelton (1965-2020), an American filmmaker and director known for her independent films.
The name Rilynn, while relatively modern and without a clear historical or cultural origin, seems to be a combination of two established names, Riley and Lynn, each with their own linguistic roots and historical references.
People
Rilynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rilynn 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
Rilynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rilynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,571 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rilynn 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 95,983 US residents.
Is Rilynn a common name?
We classify Rilynn as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,598 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rilynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Rilynn was 2018, when 264 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rilynn is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rilynn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,356 people with the name Rilynn, or 0.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,720 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 Rilynn 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 Rilynn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rilynn leans strongly female. 2,305 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 55 male bearers (2.3%). 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 Rilynn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rilynn is White at 78.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Black (6.5%). 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 Rilynn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rilynn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.3% (1,844 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 Rilynn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rilynn a female name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Rilynn 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 Rilynn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rilynn 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 Rilynn 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 have Rilynn as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.