Rylie
Anglicized form of the Gaelic given name Ríoghnach meaning "queenly, royal".
Name Census estimates that about 23,544 living Americans carry the first name Rylie. It sits at #483 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (95.0% of registrations). The average person named Rylie today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rylie births was 2008 (1,114 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rylie. 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 Rylie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Rylie is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,558 Americans
Peak year
2008
1,114 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#483
Tracked since 1983
Census
Rylie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,814 people with the first name Rylie, which placed it at #1,663 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
#1,663
National first-name rank
People counted
19K
18,814 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rylie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rylie is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.6%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Rylie 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 Rylie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.1% · 15,066
- Hispanic or Latino7.6% · 1,423
- Two or more races5.8% · 1,082
- Black or African American4.0% · 755
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 326
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 162
Gender
Gender distribution for Rylie
Rylie leans heavily female at 95.0% of total registrations, but 1,193 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rylie as a male name
- Ranked #5,388 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (68 births)
Rylie as a female name
- Ranked #483 in 2024
- 638 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (1,063 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rylie leans strongly female. 17,751 people counted with this name were female (94.3%), compared with 1,063 male bearers (5.7%).
Popularity
Rylie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rylie from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 9,433 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rylie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rylie 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 Rylie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rylies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Rylie, while Vermont, Wyoming, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 432 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rylie
Rylie is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the Old English surname Riley, which is thought to have originated from the Old English words "ríc" meaning "rich" and "leah" meaning "clearing" or "meadow." The name is believed to have first emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century.
The earliest recorded use of the name Rylie can be traced back to the late 16th century, when it appeared in various historical records and documents from England. One of the earliest known individuals to bear this name was Rylie Whitehead, a landowner and farmer who lived in Yorkshire, England, in the late 1500s.
Throughout history, the name Rylie has been relatively uncommon, but it has been carried by a few notable individuals. In the 17th century, Rylie Browne was a prominent English author and poet who wrote several works on philosophy and literature. Born in 1623 in London, she was known for her eloquent writing style and her contributions to the literary landscape of the time.
Another notable figure named Rylie was Rylie Jameson, a Scottish explorer and adventurer who lived from 1745 to 1821. Jameson embarked on several expeditions to the Americas and documented his travels in detailed journals, which provided valuable insights into the cultures and landscapes he encountered.
In the 19th century, Rylie Stevenson was a pioneering American educator who played a significant role in establishing several schools and institutions of higher learning in the Midwest. Born in 1819 in Ohio, Stevenson was a strong advocate for accessible education and dedicated her life to improving educational opportunities for all.
More recently, Rylie Thompson was a celebrated Australian artist and sculptor who lived from 1923 to 2002. Her works, which often explored themes of nature and the human form, were featured in numerous exhibitions and galleries across Australia and internationally.
While the name Rylie has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has maintained a unique and intriguing quality, reflecting its rich linguistic heritage and the diverse individuals who have carried it across different eras and cultures.
People
Rylie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rylie 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
Rylie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rylie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,544 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rylie 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 14,558 US residents.
Is Rylie a common name?
We classify Rylie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 23,816 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rylie most popular?
The single biggest year for Rylie was 2008, when 1,114 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rylie is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rylie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,814 people with the name Rylie, or 6.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,663 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 Rylie 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 Rylie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rylie leans strongly female. 17,751 people counted with this name were female (94.3%), compared with 1,063 male bearers (5.7%). 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 Rylie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rylie is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.6%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Rylie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rylie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.1% (15,066 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 Rylie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rylie a female name?
Yes, 95.0% of people registered as Rylie 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 Rylie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rylie 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 Rylie 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 Rylie?
Want to know how many people share the name Rylie? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.