Ryan - Meaning of Ryan

What does Ryan mean?

[ 2 syll. ryan, ry-an ] The baby girl name Ryan is also used as a boy name, with the latter form being far more popular. It is pronounced RIYaeN †. Ryan has its origins in the Celtic language. It is used largely in English and Irish. The name Ryan means 'descendant of Rian'. It is derived from the word ri with the meaning 'king'. It represents the transferred use of the surname as a given name. See Ryan for more information.

Ryan has 20 forms. Forms of the name include Raiann, Raianne, Riana, Riane, Riann, Rianna, Rianne, Riayn, Ryana, Ryane, Ryann, Ryanna, Ryanne, Ryenne, Ryette, Rylyn, and Rynn. Other English forms include the diminutive Rye, and the spelling variants Rian and Ryen.

Ryan is rather popular as a baby girl name. The name grew in popularity from the 1970s up to the 1980s; prior to that, it was of only very light use. At the modest peak of its usage in 1986, 0.038% of baby girls were named Ryan. It had a ranking of #340 then. The baby name has dropped in popularity since then. In 2011, it ranked at #575 with a usage of 0.026%, but it was nevertheless the most popular out of all girl names in its family. Ryan was 53% more widely used than the next ranked name, Ryann, in 2011. Ryan has mainly been a boy name in the last century. There were 25 times more boys than girls who were named Ryan in 2010.

Baby names that sound like Ryan include Reann, Reanne, Rhian, Rhiane, Rian, Riane, Ra'naa, Raanee, Raanna, Raeann, Raena, Raenah, Raheem, Rahma, Rahnee, Rahni, Rahny, Raiann, Raina, and Rainee.

† Pronunciation for Ryan: R as in "race (R.EY.S)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"