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River

Nature name
Brynn McKeon
By Brynn McKeon
Updated Thu Apr 24 2025

River Origin and Meaning

The name River is a boy's name.

River shares the tranquil feeling of all the water names, and seems to have pretty much escaped its past strong association with River Phoenix and his unfortunate fate. Actor Joaquin Phoenix named his son with actress Rooney Mara after his brother River.

River's popularity is rising for boy genders, but it's still predominantly given to baby boys. Last year nearly 3500 boys were named River vs. about 1900 baby girls.

Keri Russell and the Taylor Hansons both have sons named River, Natasha Henstridge used it as the middle name of her boy Tristan, and Jason Schwartzman pluralized it for daughter Marlowe Rivers.

# 116 in the US

River Rank in US Top 1000

# 88 on Nameberry

River Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Popularity of the name River

20 Names Similar to River

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

Famous People Named River

  • River Jude Phoenix
    late American actor
  • River Phoenix (b. 2020)
    son of Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara
  • River Shields
    American actor
  • River Viiperi
    American model
  • River Matthews
    British singer,songwriter
  • River John Reeves
    English guitarist of late band Viola Beach
  • River Samuel Hanson (b. 2006)
    son of singer Taylor Hanson
  • River Russell Deary (b. 2007)
    son of actress Keri Russell
  • River Robertson (b. 2008)
    son of TV personality Jeptha Robertson of Duck Dynasty
  • River James Murray (b. 2010)
    son of actor Sean Harland Murray
  • River Jacob Stewart (b. 2010)
    son of actor Josh Stewart
  • River Isaac Ruah Olsen (b. 2013)
    son of actress Daniela Ruah
  • River Juozas Baskauskas (b. 2014)
    son of TV personality Aras Baskauskas ("Survivor")
  • River Alan Thomas Hampson (b. 2014)
    son of actress/model Megan Gale and AFL footballer Shaun Hampson
  • River Jackson (b. 2014)
    son of singer Jackie Jackson; twin of brother Jaylen
  • River Blake Gosa (b. 2014)
    son of TV personality Whitney Purvis and Weston Gosa of "16 and Pregnant"
  • River Chen (Xuan Fei) (b. 2015)
    son of athlete/TV personality Blackie Chen and singer Christine Fan; twin of brother Ryan (Xuan Xiang)
  • River Rocket Blue Dallas Oliver (b. 2016)
    son of celebrity chefs Jamie and Jools Oliver
  • River Kelly Smith (b. 2016)
    late son of country singer Granger Smith
  • River Joe Goldblum (b. 2017)
    son of actor Jeff Goldblum and Emilie Livingston
  • River Jones Johnson (b. 2017)
    son of golfer Dustin Johnson and model Paulina Gretzky
  • Nolan River Nicholas (b. 2011)
    son of actor Thomas Ian Nicholas & DJ Colette
  • Journey River Green (b. 2016)
    son of actors Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green
  • River Rowe Nicholson (b. 2018)
    son of american R&B,pop singer Ameriie

The name River in Pop Culture

  • River Baldwin
    character on American soap "The Young and the Restless"
  • River Ripple (later Riverstar)
    character from the book series "Warriors" by Erin Hunter
  • "River
    " song by Sarah McLachlan, in reference to actor River Phoenix
  • River Song
    character in the television show, "Doctor Who" (2005)
  • "Mouth of the River
    " song by Imagine Dragons
  • "River
    " TV crime drama series
  • River Ward
    character in video game "Cyberpunk 2077"

The name River in Nameberry Blog Posts