Riley

Where Riley comes from

* From Ryley in Lancashire, from Old English ryge (“rye”) + leah (“clearing, meadow”). Equivalent to rye + -ley (“lea”). * A variant of Reilly, from Irish Ó Raghallaigh (see O'Reilly).
— Wiktionary's entry for Riley
  • From a surname
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Riley through the years
  1. 1923
    First appearance
    #4,967 among girls with 5 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1989
    Riley Keough born
    American actress
  3. 1991
    Riley Reid born
    American pornographic actress
  4. 2003
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name. From this year on, more girls have.
  5. 2016
    Peak, #22
    7,159 babies named Riley, the most in any year.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name.
  • A male given name transferred from the surname, of 19th century and later usage.
  • A female given name from surname, of 1990s and later usage.
  • A placename
  • A town in Riley Township, Vigo County, Indiana, United States.
  • Ellipsis of Riley County.
Namesakes
  • Riley Reid · American pornographic actress, born 1991
  • Riley Keough · American actress, born 1989
  • Riley Steele · American pornographic actress, born 1987
  • Riley McGree · Australian association football player, born 1998
  • Riley Voelkel · American actress, born 1990

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.