Ryu
A masculine Japanese name meaning flowing or prosperous.
Name Census estimates that about 1,614 living Americans carry the first name Ryu. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ryu today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ryu births was 2012 (130 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ryu. 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 Ryu with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Ryu is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 212,363 Americans
Peak year
2012
130 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,449
Tracked since 1985
Census
Ryu in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,217 people with the first name Ryu, which placed it at #10,791 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
#10,791
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,217 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
43.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ryu
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.9%) and Two or More Races (17.0%). 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 Ryu 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 Ryu at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander43.2% · 526
- Hispanic or Latino25.9% · 315
- Two or more races17.0% · 207
- White9.4% · 115
- Black or African American3.0% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Ryu
Out of the 1,629 babies given the name Ryu since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Ryu as a male name
- Ranked #1,449 in 2024
- 125 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (130 births)
Ryu as a female name
- Ranked #17,302 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ryu leans strongly male. 1,190 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 29 female bearers (2.4%).
Popularity
Ryu: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ryu 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 741 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ryu remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ryu 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 Ryu during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ryus live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Ryu, while Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 67 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ryu
The name Ryu has its origins in Japanese culture and can be traced back to the 8th century AD. It is derived from the Japanese word "ryu," which means "dragon" or "flowing." The name was often given to boys who were seen as strong, powerful, and courageous, much like the mythical dragon.
In Japanese folklore and mythology, dragons were revered as powerful and auspicious creatures, symbolizing wisdom, strength, and good luck. The name Ryu was often associated with these positive qualities, making it a popular choice for parents.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Kojiki, an ancient Japanese chronicle dating back to 712 AD. In this text, there is a reference to a legendary figure named Ryu-o, who was said to be the ruler of the undersea kingdom of the dragons.
Throughout Japanese history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Ryu. One of the most famous was Ryu Tairen (1293-1336), a renowned Zen Buddhist monk and calligrapher who lived during the Kamakura period. His teachings and calligraphic works were highly influential during his time and continue to be studied today.
Another prominent individual with the name Ryu was Ryu Matahachi (1588-1643), a skilled swordsman and martial artist who founded the Ryu-ha Shinto school of swordsmanship. His teachings and techniques were widely respected and have been passed down through generations of samurai and martial artists.
In the realm of literature, Ryu Murakami (born 1952) is a celebrated contemporary Japanese novelist and filmmaker. His works, which often explore themes of alienation and societal dysfunction, have garnered critical acclaim and have been translated into numerous languages.
Moving to the world of sports, Ryu Seung-min (born 1989) is a South Korean professional baseball pitcher who currently plays for the Toronto Blue Jays in Major League Baseball. He is known for his impressive pitching repertoire and has represented South Korea in international competitions such as the World Baseball Classic.
Another notable figure is Ryu Hyun-jin (born 1987), a South Korean professional baseball pitcher who has played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays in Major League Baseball. He was the first player from the Korean Baseball Organization to be posted and signed by an MLB team, paving the way for other Korean players to follow.
People
Ryu + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ryu 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
Ryu: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ryu?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,614 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ryu 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 212,363 US residents.
Is Ryu a common name?
We classify Ryu as "Rare". It ranks above 92.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,629 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ryu most popular?
The single biggest year for Ryu was 2012, when 130 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ryu is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ryu in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,217 people with the name Ryu, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,791 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 Ryu 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 Ryu?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ryu leans strongly male. 1,190 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 29 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Ryu?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ryu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.9%) and Two or More Races (17.0%). 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 Ryu most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ryu in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.2% (526 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 Ryu in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ryu a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Ryu 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 Ryu still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ryu 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 Ryu 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 are called Ryu?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.