Old French riviere, from Latin riparia — river. A nature name used for both sexes since the 1990s.
River ranks 220th among American unisexs in 2025, with 4,540 born that year. Its best year was 2022, when 5,430 babies were given the name, ranking 150th. The typical living American called River is about 7 years old today. It is relatively most common in West Virginia, where it accounts for 0.42% 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.