Irish Raghallaigh, or Old English ryge leah, "rye clearing" — rye clearing; valiant. A surname used for both sexes; girls have led in America since 2002.
Riley ranks 48th among American unisexs in 2025, with 6,107 born that year. Its best year was 2008, when 9,906 babies were given the name, ranking 39th. The typical living American called Riley is about 17 years old today. It is relatively most common in Rhode Island, where it accounts for 0.48% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.