How popular is the baby name Ryan in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Ryan.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Ryan


Posts that mention the name Ryan

Popular baby names in the United States, 2014

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

Emma and Noah were the most popular baby names in the United States in 2014.

Here’s the top 10:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Emma, 20799 baby girls
2. Olivia, 19674
3. Sophia, 18490
4. Isabella, 16950
5. Ava, 15586
6. Mia, 13442
7. Emily, 12562
8. Abigail, 11985
9. Madison, 10247
10. Charlotte, 10048		1. Noah, 19144 baby boys
2. Liam, 18342
3. Mason, 17092
4. Jacob, 16712
5. William, 16687
6. Ethan, 15619
7. Michael, 15323
8. Alexander, 15293
9. James, 14301
10. Daniel, 13829

Noah remained the #1 boy name, and Emma replaced Sophia as the #1 girl name.

On the girls’ side, Charlotte replaced Elizabeth (now 14th). Elizabeth hasn’t dipped this low since the late 1970s.

On the boys’ side, James replaced Jayden (now 15th). James was last in the top 10 in the early 1990s.

Here’s the rest of the top 50:

Girl NamesBoy Names
11. Harper, 9564
12. Sofia, 9542
13. Avery, 9517
14. Elizabeth, 9492
15. Amelia, 8727
16. Evelyn, 8692
17. Ella, 8489
18. Chloe, 8469
19. Victoria, 7955
20. Aubrey, 7589
21. Grace, 7554
22. Zoey, 7358
23. Natalie, 7061
24. Addison, 6950
25. Lillian, 6869
26. Brooklyn, 6767
27. Lily, 6727
28. Hannah, 6512
29. Layla, 6428
30. Scarlett, 5965
31. Aria, 5893
32. Zoe, 5828
33. Samantha, 5680
34. Anna, 5639
35. Leah, 5563
36. Audrey, 5531
37. Ariana, 5461
38. Allison, 5440
39. Savannah, 5433
40. Arianna, 5240
41. Camila, 5194
42. Penelope, 5062
43. Gabriella, 5051
44. Claire, 4991
45. Aaliyah, 4850
46. Sadie, 4823
47. Riley, 4761
48. Skylar, 4732
49. Nora, 4708
50. Sarah, 4647		11. Elijah, 13694
12. Benjamin, 13687
13. Logan, 13579
14. Aiden, 13296
15. Jayden, 12878
16. Matthew, 12809
17. Jackson, 12121
18. David, 12078
19. Lucas, 12078
20. Joseph, 11995
21. Anthony, 11490
22. Andrew, 11069
23. Samuel, 10859
24. Gabriel, 10826
25. Joshua, 10764
26. John, 10600
27. Carter, 10599
28. Luke, 10431
29. Dylan, 10350
30. Christopher, 10278
31. Isaac, 9868
32. Oliver, 9365
33. Henry, 9350
34. Sebastian, 9237
35. Caleb, 9143
36. Owen, 9100
37. Ryan, 9026
38. Nathan, 8902
39. Wyatt, 8812
40. Hunter, 8759
41. Jack, 8685
42. Christian, 8388
43. Landon, 8180
44. Jonathan, 8035
45. Levi, 7958
46. Jaxon, 7635
47. Julian, 7611
48. Isaiah, 7530
49. Eli, 7428
50. Aaron, 7334

On the girls’ side, Ariana, Penelope, Skylar and Nora (previously ranked 54th, 56th, 73rd and 82nd) are new to the top 50. They replaced Hailey, Kaylee, Alexis and Nevaeh (now ranked 51st, 52nd, 64th and 65th).

On the boys’s side, Oliver and Aaron (previously ranked 52nd and 51st) are new to the top 50. They replaced Brayden and Gavin (now ranked 62nd and 60th).

The biggest jumps within the top 50 were Scarlett (+12 spots), Sebastian (+11) and Aria (+9).

The biggest drops within the top 50 were Aaliyah (-10), Christian (-7), Ryan (-7) and Nathan (-7).

Here’s more from the SSA’s news release:

Aranza jumped an amazing 3,625 spots on the girls’ side to number 607, from number 4,232 in 2013. The Latin soap opera “Por siempre mi amor” was aired on Univision from 2013 to 2015.  The show featured a young lead character named Aranza, and obviously had its effect on naming trends last year.

Bode raced ahead 645 spots, from number 1,428 in 2013 to number 783 in 2014.  This might have had something to do with the Winter Olympics in early 2014, where Bode Miller continued his outstanding alpine skiing career by collecting his sixth Olympic medal.  Not only is he the most successful male American alpine skier of all time, he is considered by many to be an American hero.

The second fastest riser for boys was Axl, a nod to both rock legend Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses and Axl Jack Duhamel, son of Stacy Ann “Fergie” Ferguson and Josh Duhamel.  For girls, Montserrat, the lead character in a very popular Latin soap opera, was number two, joined by another Monserrat (spelled just one letter differently) at number three.  

More posts on the new names coming soon!

U.S. Baby Names 2014: Most popular names, Top girl-name debuts, Top boy-name debuts, Biggest girl-name changes, Biggest boy-name changes, Top first letters, Top lengths

Sources: SSA, Noah and Emma Top Social Security’s List of Most Popular Baby Names for 2014 – SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)

Biggest changes in boy name usage (England, 2013)

Here’s another “biggest changes” analysis, but this one is for the England and Wales boy names. (We looked at the girl names yesterday.)

The tables below include two versions of each list. On the left are the top raw-number differences, taking all names into account. On the right are the top ranking differences, taking only the top 1,000 names (roughly) into account.

Biggest Increases in Popularity

Raw Numbers (all names)Rankings (top 1,000)
  1. Oscar, +1,222 babies
  2. Muhammad, +338
  3. Henry, +320
  4. Joey, +288
  5. Oliver, +280
  6. Teddy, +276
  7. Arthur, +249
  8. Archie, +203
  9. Edward, +185
  10. Theodore, +167
  1. Greyson, +1388 spots
  2. Harvey-Lee, +898
  3. Salahuddin, +759
  4. Bernard, +715
  5. Camden, +686
  6. Kayson, +583
  7. Raife, +531
  8. Buster and Abubakr [tie], +517
  9. Jeffrey and Brax [tie], +499
  10. Emre, +492

I think the rise of Oscar can be attributed, at least in part, to Oscar Pistorius. Can you think of explanations for any of the other names? (I’d especially like to know what gave Buster a boost.)

Biggest Decreases in Popularity

Raw Numbers (all names)Rankings (top 1,000)
  1. Riley, -1,703 babies
  2. Harry, -1,280
  3. Tyler, -1,104
  4. Alfie, -705
  5. Ethan, -649
  6. Charlie, -532
  7. Joshua, -471
  8. Callum, -467
  9. Ryan, -441
  10. Dylan, -407
  1. Rylan, -577 spots
  2. Ray, -339
  3. Rylie, -277
  4. Jeevan, -276
  5. Darren, -255
  6. Codey, -252
  7. Chace, -242
  8. Dorian, -239
  9. Kaelan, -231
  10. Riley-Jay, -228

A lot of Ry- and Ri- names took hits last year. Is the sound falling out of the favor? What do you think?

Top Debut Name

Gurfateh.

Fewer than 3 baby boys got the name in 2012, but 12 baby boys were named Gurfateh in 2013. (But keep in mind that I only have the full England and Wales baby name lists going back to 2007.)

Here are the U.S. boy names that changed the most in popularity in 2013, if you’d like to compare.

Source: Baby Names, England and Wales, 2013 – ONS

Popular baby names in Yukon (Canada), 1991-2015

Flag of Yukon
Flag of Yukon

Ever wonder what the top baby names in Yukon are?

Me too! So I looked them up.

Turns out the sparsely populated Canadian territory — which is next door to Alaska, larger than California, and home to only about 34,000 people — releases baby name rankings that cover 5 years at a time. So let’s roll the five most recent lists (i.e., 25 years of popular names) into a single post, shall we?

According to the Yukon Bureau of Statistics, these were the most popular baby names in the territory over the last quarter century…

From 2011 to 2015, the top baby names in Yukon were Ava and Liam:

Girl names (2011-15)Boy names (2011-15)
Ava, 13 baby girls
Emma, 12
Hannah, 12
Sophia, 10
Avery, 9
Emily, 9
Grace, 9
Amelia, 7
Aurora, 6
Ella, 6
Lily, 6
Olivia, 6
Sadie, 6
Sophie, 6		Liam, 17 baby boys
Mason, 14
Jack, 13
William, 13
Alexander, 11
Benjamin, 11
Levi, 11
Hunter, 10
Ethan, 9
Jacob, 9
Thomas, 9
Eli, 8
Gavin, 8
Noah, 8
Oliver, 8
Samuel, 8
Carter, 7
Charles, 7
Connor, 7
Jaxon, 7
Aiden, 6
Luke, 6
Owen, 6
Xavier, 6
  • From 2011 to 2015, Yukon welcomed 962 baby girls. A total of 654 girl names were bestowed, and 511 (78.1%) of those names were used only once.
  • From 2011 to 2015, Yukon welcomed 1,088 baby boys. A total of 589 boy names were bestowed, and 400 (67.9%) of those names were used only once.
  • According to the CBC, the top names in Yukon in 2015 specifically were Sophia and Jack.

From 2006 to 2010, the top baby names in Yukon were Madison and James:

Girl names (2006-10)Boy names (2006-10)
Madison, 11 baby girls
Olivia, 9
Brooklyn, 8
Emma, 8
Lily, 8
Mia, 8
Avery, 7
Chloe, 7
Isabelle, 7
Sophie, 7
Abigail, 6
Ava, 6
Ella, 6
Emily, 6
Hailey, 6
Layla, 6
Sophia, 6		James, 11 baby boys
Liam, 10
Logan, 10
Gabriel, 9
Jacob, 9
Matthew, 9
Noah, 9
Ryan, 8
Alexander, 7
Daniel, 7
Oliver, 7
Samuel, 7
William, 7
Andrew, 6
Ethan, 6
Gavin, 6
Joseph, 6
Marcus, 6
Mason, 6
Nathan, 6
Thomas, 6
Xavier, 6
  • From 2006 to 2010, Yukon welcomed 912 baby girls. A total of 601 girl names were bestowed, and 479 (79.7%) of those names were used only once.
  • From 2006 to 2010, Yukon welcomed 989 baby boys. A total of 559 boy names were bestowed, and 402 (71.9%) of those names were used only once.

From 2001 to 2005, the top baby names in Yukon were Emily and Logan:

Girl names (2001-05)Boy names (2001-05)
Emily, 13 baby girls
Hannah, 12
Emma, 11
Madison, 10
Olivia, 10
Alyssa, 7
Sarah, 7
Brooke, 6
Jessica, 6
Morgan, 6
Taylor, 6		Logan, 12 baby boys
Ethan, 11
Andrew, 10
Daniel, 10
James, 10
Joshua, 10
Tristan, 10
Cameron, 9
Jacob, 9
Adam, 8
Christopher, 8
Cole, 8
Liam, 8
Michael, 8
Nathan, 8
Nicholas, 8
Aidan, 7
Alexander, 7
Austin, 7
Jesse, 7
Justin, 7
Matthew, 7
Noah, 7
William, 7
Dylan, 6
Max, 6
Seth, 6
Thomas, 6
  • From 2001-2005, Yukon welcomed 857 baby girls. A total of 586 girl names were bestowed, and 462 (78.8%) of those names were used only once.
  • From 2001-2005, Yukon welcomed 870 baby boys. A total of 478 boy names were bestowed, and 339 (70.9%) of those names were used only once.

From 1996 to 2000, the top baby names in Yukon were Emily and Alexander:

Girl names (1996-2000)Boy names (1996-2000)
Emily, 15 baby girls
Samantha, 14
Sarah, 14
Hannah, 11
Jessica, 11
Taylor, 10
Emma, 9
Erin, 8
Jasmine, 8
Sydney, 8
Amber, 7
Julia, 7
Madison, 7
Megan, 7
Nicole, 7
Amy, 6
Brittany, 6
Chelsea, 6
Cheyenne, 6
Kathleen, 6
Lauren, 6		Alexander, 17 baby boys
Brandon, 16
Joshua, 16
Jacob, 15
Matthew, 14
Andrew, 13
Benjamin, 13
David, 12
William, 12
Jordan, 11
Kyle, 11
Tyler, 11
Dylan, 10
Michael, 10
Nathan, 10
Ryan, 10
Tristan, 10
Anthony, 9
Cody, 9
Daniel, 9
James, 9

From 1991 to 1995, the top baby names in Yukon were Ashley/Brittany/Samantha (3-way tie) and Michael:

Girl names (1991-95)Boy names (1991-95)
Ashley, 14 baby girls
Brittany, 14
Samantha, 14
Kayla, 13
Sarah, 13
Emily, 12
Jessica, 12
Heather, 10
Megan, 9
Nicole, 9
Jennifer, 8
Kaitlyn, 8
Sara, 8
Alexandra, 7
Amanda, 7
Jasmine, 7
Rebecca, 7
Christina, 6
Jenna, 6
Robyn, 6
Shelby, 6		Michael, 28 baby boys
Ryan, 19
Cody, 18
Kyle, 18
Matthew, 18
Joshua, 17
Tyler, 16
James, 15
Daniel, 14
David, 14
Logan, 14
Alexander, 13
Jordan, 13
William, 13
Benjamin, 12
Brandon, 12
John, 12
Nathan, 12
Nicholas, 11
Patrick, 11
Dylan, 10
Steven, 10

Sources: Yukon Baby Names 2001-2005 [pdf], Yukon Baby Names 2006-2010 [pdf], Baby Names in Yukon, 2011–2015 [pdf]

Image: Adapted from Flag of Yukon (public domain)

[Latest update: Jul. 2022]

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2013

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

Ireland’s top baby names of 2013 were announced a few days ago.

According to data from the Central Statistics Office, the most popular baby names are Emily and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 100 girl names and top 100 boy names of 2013:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Emily
2. Emma
3. Sophie
4. Ella
5. Amelia
6. Aoife
7. Ava
8. Lucy
9. Grace
10. Sarah
11. Mia
12. Anna
13. Chloe
14. Hannah
15. Kate
16. Ruby
17. Lily
18. Katie
19. Caoimhe
20. Sophia
21. Lauren
22. Saoirse
23. Ellie
24. Holly
25. Leah
26. Amy
27. Olivia
28. Jessica
29. Ciara
30. Zoe
31. Isabelle
32. Niamh
33. Molly
34. Julia
35. Robyn
36. Erin
37. Roisin
38. Freya
39. Laura
40. Cara
41. Sofia
42. Eva
43. Rachel
44. Isabella
45. Kayla
46. Abbie
47. Charlotte [tie]
47. Millie [tie]
49. Faye
50. Clodagh
51. Aisling
52. Alice [tie]
52. Eabha [tie]
54. Abigail
55. Ellen
56. Lexi
57. Aoibhinn
58. Layla
59. Eve [tie]
59. Zara [tie]
61. Alannah
62. Aine
63. Maria [tie]
63. Megan [tie]
65. Rebecca
66. Nicole
67. Sadhbh
68. Clara
69. Elizabeth
70. Maya
71. Maja
72. Emilia
73. Caitlin
74. Rose
75. Isabel
76. Aoibheann
77. Sadie
78. Lena
79. Hollie
80. Sienna
81. Mary
82. Fiadh
83. Zuzanna
84. Aimee [tie]
84. Tara [tie]
86. Hanna [tie]
86. Katelyn [tie]
86. Lilly [tie]
86. Ruth [tie]
90. Alexandra [tie]
90. Poppy [tie]
92. Amber [tie]
92. Mollie [tie]
92. Victoria [tie]
95. Lara
96. Sara
97. Brooke
98. Aoibhe [tie]
98. Laoise [tie]
100. Kayleigh		1. Jack
2. James
3. Daniel
4. Conor
5. Sean
6. Adam
7. Ryan
8. Michael
9. Harry
10. Noah
11. Thomas
12. Alex
13. Luke
14. Oisin
15. Charlie
16. Patrick
17. Cian
18. Liam [tie]
18. Darragh [tie]
20. Dylan
21. Jamie
22. Matthew
23. Cillian
24. Aaron
25. Fionn
26. Jake
27. John
28. David
29. Ben
30. Finn
31. Nathan
32. Kyle
33. Samuel
34. Evan
35. Max
36. Ethan
37. Rian
38. Joseph
39. Alexander
40. Mason
41. Oliver
42. Joshua
43. William
44. Eoin
45. Jayden
46. Oscar
47. Callum
48. Aidan
49. Tom
50. Robert
51. Sam [tie]
51. Tadhg [tie]
53. Jacob
54. Cathal
55. Shane
56. Leon
57. Mark
58. Senan
59. Bobby
60. Ronan [tie]
60. Andrew [tie]
62. Eoghan
63. Leo
64. Lucas
65. Rory
66. Alfie
67. Tyler
68. Benjamin [tie]
68. Cormac [tie]
70. Scott
71. Christopher
72. Odhran
73. Kevin
74. Ciaran
75. Dara
76. Shay [tie]
76. Alan [tie]
78. Tommy
79. Logan [tie]
79. Anthony [tie]
81. Jakub
82. Rhys
83. Tomas
84. Donnacha
85. Kai
86. Stephen
87. Killian
88. Niall
89. Jason
90. Josh
91. Kayden
92. Martin [tie]
92. Ruairi [tie]
92. Brian [tie]
95. Isaac
96. Danny [tie]
96. Edward [tie]
98. Oran [tie]
98. Sebastian [tie]
98. Hugh [tie]

New to the top 100 are Sadie, Sienna, Fiadh and Poppy for girls and Kai and Kayden for boys.

(Names that were new on the 2012 list but that have since dropped out of the top 100 are Amelie, Evie and Maisie.)

Of all the girl names in the current top 100, these five saw the biggest increases from 2012 to 2013 in terms of rank change:

  1. Fiadh, +64 (146th to 82nd)
  2. Sadie, +62 (139th to 77th)
  3. Poppy, +46 (136th to 90th)
  4. Lexi, +33 (89th to 56th)
  5. Sienna, +32 (112th to 80th)

And these five saw the biggest increases in terms of number of babies:

  1. Anna, +56 (296 babies to 352 babies)
  2. Lexi, +54 (127 babies to 73 babies)
  3. Sofia, +50 (155 babies to 105 babies)
  4. Sadie, +42 (84 babies to 42 babies)
  5. Fiadh, +39 (78 babies to 39 babies)

Of all the boy names in the current top 100, these five saw the biggest increases from 2012 to 2013 in terms of rank change:

  1. Kayden, +44 (135th to 91st)
  2. Shay, +27 (103rd to 76th)
  3. Kai, +24 (109th to 85th)
  4. Leo, +21 (84th to 63rd)
  5. Anthony, +20 (99th to 79th)

And these five saw the biggest increases in terms of number of babies:

  1. Oliver, +44 (199 babies to 155 babies)
  2. Mason, +42 (201 babies to 159 babies)
  3. Alexander, +41 (202 babies to 161 babies)
  4. Leo, +35 (131 babies to 96 babies)
  5. Shay, +35 (104 babies to 69 babies)

Source: Irish Babies’ Names 2013

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)