Riley

English, Irish

"rye clearing; courageous"

Riley Origin and Meaning

The name Riley is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "rye clearing; courageous".

Riley -- one of the most popular unisex names -- is trendier now for girls though for boys it's a classic, ALWAYS ranking in the US Top 1000.

In fact, after a decade of softening, Riley has recently taken a turn upward for boys, along with a lot of other gender-neutral names. These days, parents are embracing unisex names even more enthusiastically for their sons than for their daughters.

Riley ranks in the Top 100 for boys throughout the rest of the English-speaking world, though interestingly not in its native Ireland. In the US, Riley is the most popular Irish name for girls.

There are lots of athletes and other notable real-life namesakes for a boy named Riley, as well as fictional ones in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight: Eclipse. And Riley can easily be shortened for a boy to Ry or Lee.

Riley Rank in US Top 1000

# 223 in the US

Riley Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 280 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Riley

• 223 US 2023
• 280 Nameberry 2025
• 162 Canada 2023
• 80 England 2023
• 86 Scotland 2024
• 55 Australia 2024
• 47 New Zealand 2024
• 97 Netherlands 2020
• 64 Dogs 2022

20 Names Similar to Riley

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Riley.

• Cole
• Blake
• Myles
• Cameron
• Carter
• Ashton
• Colton
• Chase
• Greyson
• Grayson
• Mason
• Landon
• Cooper
• Hayden
• Dylan
• Carson
• Austin
• Bryce
• Avery
• Brody

Famous People Named Riley

• Riley "B.B." King American blues musician
• (James) Riley Breckenridge American drummer
• Riley Chamberlin American actor
• Riley Lee Martin American author and radio host
• Riley Bryant Smith American actor
• Riley Mackey Odoms American NFL football player
• Riley Matheson American NFL football player
• Riley Thomas Cooper American NFL football player
• Riley Griffiths American actor
• Riley Pint American baseball player
• Riley Thomas McDonough American musician of band Before You Exit
• Riley Sweeney Lynch (b. 1992) son of director David Lynch
• (Hudson) Riley Hawk (b. 1992) son of skateboarder Tony Hawk
• Riley Ken'ichi Marino (b. 2006) son of actor Ken Marino
• Riley Edward Donoho (b. 2006) son of actress Holly Marie Combs
• Riley John Wagner Lewis (b. 2006), son of TV journalist Katie Wagner
• Riley James David Hill (b. 2008) son of reality TV personality Steven Hill
• Riley Kinnear (b. 2010) son of actors Rory Kinnear and Pandora Collin
• Riley Doran Manno (b. 2018) son of American television and radio host Kevin Manno and American television personality, correspondent, host, spokesperson, and blogger Ali Fedotowsky,Manno, brother to Molly Sullivan

The name Riley in Pop Culture

• Riley Finn character on TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
• Riley Freeman character in "The Boondocks" comic strip and TV series
• Riley Stavros character on TV's "Degrassi: The Next Generation"
• Riley Roberts character on TV's "The Torkelsons"
• Riley Poole character in the National Treasure movies
• Riley Parker character on Australian TV soap "Neighbours"
• Riley Costello character on British soap "Hollyoaks"
• Riley Bay character in "Awoken" by Serra Elinsen
• Riley Cromos character in "Sims" series
• Riley Biers character in the Twilight Saga
• Riley Douglas Martin character on TV's "Living with Fran"
• Riley Burns character in Jenny Nimmo's "The Children of the Red King" series
• Riley a British motor car named after its originators, the Riley family
• "The Life of Riley " song by The Lightning Seeds