Riley

RIE-lee

English, Irish

"rye clearing; courageous"

Riley Origin and Meaning

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

Riley—an upbeat, friendly surname name—is red hot for girls and still going strong for boys. If you haven't been spending much time around babies recently, you may be surprised to learn that Riley is the most popular girls' name starting with R and also the Number 1 Irish name for girls in the US.

Riley originated as both an English and an Irish surname. The former was derived from British place names that got their names from the Old English words for "rye clearing." Irish Riley is a variation of Reilly, a surname taken from the given name Raghailleach.

Rylee, Ryleigh, and other variations are also quite popular, along with the traditional Reilly. Riley is one of the most popular contemporary unisex baby names, ALWAYS ranking in the Top 1000 for boys but now more popular for girls.

Newsperson Norah O'Donnell has a daughter named Riley Norah.

Riley Rank in US Top 1000

# 42 in the US

Riley Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 233 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Riley

• 42 US 2024
• 233 Nameberry 2025
• 3 Unisex 2024
• 79 Canada 2023
• 38 Future 2028
• 222 England 2023
• 109 Scotland 2024
• 90 Australia 2024
• 52 New Zealand 2024
• 44 Dogs 2023

20 Names Similar to Riley

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

• Peyton
• Addison
• Avery
• Everleigh
• Kennedy
• Blake
• Paisley
• Brooklyn
• Reagan
• Rylie
• Harper
• Zoey
• Hayden
• Kendall
• Skylar
• Bailey
• Kinsley
• Everly
• Lyla
• Kennedi

Famous People Named Riley

• (Danielle) Riley Keough American actress/model, daughter of Lisa Marie Presley; granddaughter of Elvis Presley
• Riley Elizabeth Weston American actress
• Riley Reid American adult film actress
• Riley DeLuise (b. 1993) daughter of actor David DeLuise; granddaughter of actor Dom DeLuise
• Riley Shannon McCusker (b. 2001) American gymnast
• Riley Burruss (b. 2002) daughter of reality TV personality Kandi Burruss of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta"
• Riley Claire Bryggman (b. 2003) daughter of actor Larry Bryggman
• Riley Rose Campbell (b. 2004) daughter of actors Alan Campbell and Lauren Kennedy
• Coco Riley Arquette (b. 2004) daughter of actors Courteney Cox and David Arquette
• Riley Collins (b. 2005) daughter of NFL player Kerry Collins
• Riley Dylan Sullivan (b. 2007) daughter of baseball player Cory Sullivan
• Riley Norah Tracy (b. 2008) daughter of TV journalist Norah O'Donnell and chef Geoff Tracy
• Hania Riley Sinclair (b. 2008) daughter of actor Vin Diesel and model Paloma Jimenez
• Riley Maddox Blais (b. 2008) daughter of Richard Blais of "Top Chef"
• Riley Elizabeth Dempster (b. 2009) daughter of baseball player Ryan Dempster
• Riley Barber (b. 2010) daughter of NFL player Tiki Barber; twin of Ella Barber
• Riley Elizabeth Curry (b. 2012) daughter of basketball player Stephen Curry
• Riley Grace Vilasuso (b. 2012) daughter of actor Jordi Vilasuso
• Riley Anne Mesnick (b. 2013) daughter of reality TV personalities Jason and Molly Mesnick of "The Bachelor/ette"
• Riley Paige Busby (b.2015) one of the Busby Quints on TV's "Outdaughtered"

The name Riley in Pop Culture

• Riley character in "Moving in"
• Riley British motor car
• Riley Daring main character on TV's "The Replacements"
• Riley Lawrence character in film "Winning London"
• Riley Carlson character on TV's "So Little Time"
• Riley Parks main character on TV's "The Client List"
• Riley Matthews daughter of Cory and Topanga Matthews on "Girl Meets World"
• Riley Perrin character on TV's "Baby Daddy"
• Riley Blue character on the Netflix show "Sense8"
• Riley Andersen character in Disney Pixar's "Inside Out"
• Riley Grandy Gwen's daughter on TV's "The Mindy Project"
• Riley Marra a character on MTV's "Scream"
• Riley character on TV's 'The Next Step'
• Riley Davis character on TV's "MacGyver"