Riley
Top 1000
About Riley
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.
Pronounced RY-lee.
As of October 2026, Riley ranked #208 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #99 in 2002, Nameberry popularity #207.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #174 | 2,446 | 1,273.4 |
| 2015 | #195 | 2,093 | 1,092 |
| 2016 | #224 | 1,728 | 910.6 |
| 2017 | #252 | 1,471 | 794.7 |
| 2018 | #250 | 1,470 | 809.4 |
| 2019 | #263 | 1,373 | 765.2 |
| 2020 | #257 | 1,368 | 792.5 |
| 2021 | #246 | 1,448 | 827.7 |
| 2022 | #226 | 1,599 | 915.8 |
| 2023 | #223 | 1,631 | 953.5 |
| 2024 | #229 | 1,567 | 909.5 |
| 2025 | #208 | 1,666 | 975.4 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Riley.
- Cole
- Blake
- Cameron
- Myles
- Carter
- Ashton
- Grayson
- Greyson
- Colton
- Hayden
- Chase
- Cooper
- Mason
- Landon
- Carson
- Dylan
- Jameson
- Avery
- Austin
- Jace
Riley on lists
Famous Rileys
- 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
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