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 [ 2 syll. ri-ley, ril-ey ] The girl name Riley is also used as a boy name, though it is more popular for girls. It is pronounced RAYLiy KEY. Riley has its origins in the Old English language and it is used largely in English. The meaning of Riley is 'rye field'. Derived from ryge which means 'rye' ; leah which means 'wood, clearing, meadow'. It represents the transferred use of the geographic name and the surname as a given name. See Riley for more info. Forms of the name include the English names Ryleigh and Wrylie. The spelling variants Reilly (English), Ryelee (English), Rylee (English), Rylie (English), and Rylly (English) are other forms of Riley. Riley is very popular as a baby girl name, and it is also perceived as trendy. The name has been growing in popularity since the 1980s; prior to that, it was of only infrequent use. Its usage peaked modestly in 2008 with 0.277% of baby girls being named Riley. It was #39 in rank then. Among all girl names in its family, Riley was the most popular in 2008. Riley was used 96% more than the 2nd most popular name, the English Rylee, in that year. Although Riley is used more commonly as a girl name today, there was a period prior to 2001 that it was more popular with boys. After 2002, increasingly the name became more popular with girls than with boys. In 2007, 37% more girls than boys were given the name Riley. Baby names that sound like Riley include the English Reilly, the English Wrylie, the English and Italian Rachele, the German Rahel, the Slavic Rahil, the English Richel, the English Richele, the English Richell, the English Richelle, the German and Spanish Rilla, the English Rochale, the English Rolli, the English Rollie, the English Rolly, the Greek Roula, the English Rylee, the English Ryleigh, the English Rylie, the English Rylly, and the English Arrielle. KEY: Pronunciation for Riley: R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; AY as in "hide (HH.AY.D)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"   |
