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Riley - Meaning of the name

Meaning of the name Riley

[ 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 †. 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.

Riley has 20 forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. Ryleigh and Wrylie are English forms of the name. Other English forms include the spelling variants Reilly, Ryelee, Rylee, Rylie, and Rylly.

Forms used in foreign languages include the name Reiley, the name Reilley, the name Reily, the name Rhiley, the name Rieley, the name Rielly, the name Riely, the name Rilee, the name Rilley, the name Rillie, the Irish Rilo, the name Rily, and the name Ryley.

See also the related form, the name Briley.

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, 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 name Ryley, the English Wrylie, the English and Italian Rachele, the German Rahel, the Slavic Rahil, the name Raylee, the English Rayshell, the English Rayshelle, the name Reiley, the name Reilley, the name Reillo, the name Reily, the name Reli, the name Rennell, the name Rhiley, the English Richel, the English Richele, the English Richell, and the English Richelle.

 



† 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)"


 
Popularity Trend
for Riley
from 1900 to 2008
Variant Popularity Chart
for Riley
in 2008
 

Meaning of Riley Meaning of Rylly Meaning of Rylie Meaning of Rylee Meaning of Ryelee Meaning of Reilly Meaning of Rily Meaning of Ryleigh Meaning of Ryley Meaning of Wrylie Meaning of Rilo Meaning of Rillie Meaning of Reilley Meaning of Reily Meaning of Rhiley Meaning of Rieley Meaning of Rielly Meaning of Riely Meaning of Rilee Meaning of Rilley Meaning of Reiley Meaning of Reilly Meaning of Raghallach Meaning of Riley Meaning of Ryley Meaning of Briley