How popular is the baby name Riley 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 Riley.

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Popularity of the baby name Riley


Posts that mention the name Riley

Popular baby names in Mississippi, 2024

Flag of Mississippi
Flag of Mississippi

The state of Mississippi likely welcomed more than 34,000* babies last year.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and William, according to provisional data released in late December, 2024, by the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Office of Vital Records and Public Health Statistics.

Here are Mississippi’s projected top 25+ girl names and top 25+ boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Olivia, 101 baby girls
  2. Ava, 94
  3. Mary, 92
  4. Amelia, 91
  5. Charlotte and Harper (tie), 82 each
  6. Elizabeth, 80
  7. Emma, 67
  8. Nova, 65
  9. Ivy, 63
  10. Hazel, 61
  11. Ella, Evelyn, and Paisley (3-way tie), 58 each
  12. Caroline, 54
  13. Kinsley, 53
  14. Ellie and Lainey (tie), 52 each
  15. Mia, 51
  16. Eleanor and Isabella (tie), 50 each
  17. Riley, 48
  18. Serenity, 47
  19. Autumn, Layla, Millie, and Naomi (4-way tie), 46 each
  20. Journee, 45
  21. Kehlani, Khloe, and Sophia (3-way tie), 44 each
  22. Avery, Chloe, and Oaklynn (3-way tie), 42 each
  23. Londyn, Scarlett, and Skylar (3-way tie), 41 each
  24. Aria, Brooklyn, Emery, Lucy, and Raelynn (5-way tie), 40 each
  25. Aurora, Josie, Nora, and Willow (4-way tie), 39 each

Boy names

  1. William, 167 baby boys
  2. John, 159
  3. James, 148
  4. Noah, 118
  5. Liam, 106
  6. Elijah, 104
  7. Waylon, 91
  8. Asher, 86
  9. Samuel, 84
  10. Levi and Walker (tie), 80 each
  11. Henry, 79
  12. Mason, 78
  13. Carter, Josiah, and Maverick (3-way tie), 75 each
  14. Grayson, 72
  15. Hudson, 71
  16. Beau, Charles, and Oliver (3-way tie), 67 each
  17. Luke, 65
  18. Kayden, 64
  19. Amir, David, Jackson, and Thomas (4-way tie), 63 each
  20. Cooper, 62
  21. Kingston, Legend, and Michael (3-way tie), 61 each
  22. Wyatt, 59
  23. Aiden and Christopher (tie), 57 each
  24. Silas, 55
  25. Lucas and Nolan (tie), 53 each

In the girls’ top 10, Ivy and Hazel replaced Evelyn.

In the boys’ top 10, Samuel, Levi, and Walker replaced Mason and Grayson.

Finally, if you’d like to see Mississippi’s projected rankings for 2023, you can find them in this post.

*The state welcomed about 34,354 babies in 2023.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Mississippi

Popular baby names (and Maori baby names) in New Zealand, 2023

Flag of New Zealand
Flag of New Zealand

Last year, the island nation of New Zealand welcomed a total of 57,889 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Charlotte and Noah.

Here are New Zealand’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Charlotte, 209 baby girls
  2. Amelia, 184
  3. Isla, 179
  4. Olivia, 155
  5. Harper, 150
  6. Willow, 145
  7. Lily, 144
  8. Ava, 143 (tie)
  9. Ella, 143 (tie)
  10. Hazel, 141
  11. Mila, 138
  12. Evelyn, 135 (3-way tie)
  13. Mia, 135 (3-way tie)
  14. Sophie, 135 (3-way tie)
  15. Isabella, 130
  16. Aria, 125
  17. Ruby, 122
  18. Grace, 121
  19. Millie, 119
  20. Florence, 110
  21. Lucy, 108
  22. Ivy, 105
  23. Chloe, 101
  24. Zoe, 100
  25. Maeve, 98
  26. Daisy, 96
  27. Matilda, 95
  28. Sadie, 93 (tie)
  29. Sophia, 93 (tie)
  30. Emily, 92 (3-way tie)
  31. Freya, 92 (3-way tie)
  32. Luna, 92 (3-way tie)
  33. Olive, 88
  34. Georgia, 82 (tie)
  35. Maia, 82 (tie)
  36. Poppy, 81
  37. Frankie, 80 (tie)
  38. Violet, 80 (tie)
  39. Mackenzie, 79
  40. Ellie, 78
  41. Riley, 77
  42. Aurora, 76
  43. Bella, 74
  44. Madison, 70 (tie)
  45. Penelope, 70 (tie)
  46. Kaia, 69 (tie)
  47. Zara, 69 (tie)
  48. Billie, 68 (tie)
  49. Quinn, 68 (tie)
  50. Layla, 67

Boy names

  1. Noah, 267 baby boys
  2. Oliver, 247
  3. Luca, 207
  4. Jack, 194
  5. Leo, 189
  6. Theodore, 186
  7. George, 177
  8. Henry, 172
  9. Charlie, 163
  10. Hudson, 162
  11. Arthur, 158
  12. Arlo, 156
  13. Elijah, 153
  14. William, 147
  15. James, 146 (tie)
  16. Lucas, 146 (tie)
  17. Liam, 143
  18. Thomas, 142
  19. Theo, 135
  20. Oscar, 131
  21. Cooper, 122
  22. Beau, 119
  23. Hugo, 115
  24. Ethan, 114
  25. Ezra, 113 (tie)
  26. Mason, 113 (tie)
  27. Archie, 111 (tie)
  28. Levi, 111 (tie)
  29. Max, 110
  30. Carter, 106
  31. Felix, 105 (tie)
  32. Finn, 105 (tie)
  33. Alexander, 102
  34. Lachlan, 97
  35. Asher, 90 (3-way tie)
  36. Hunter, 90 (3-way tie)
  37. Louie, 90 (3-way tie)
  38. Luke, 87
  39. Benjamin, 84
  40. Harry, 83
  41. Jackson, 82
  42. Archer, 81
  43. Micah, 79 (tie)
  44. Riley, 79 (tie)
  45. Caleb, 78 (3-way tie)
  46. Isaac, 78 (3-way tie)
  47. Louis, 78 (3-way tie)
  48. Austin, 77
  49. Luka, 75
  50. Samuel, 74

And what about Maori names specifically?

Currently, the top Maori baby names in New Zealand are Aroha/Te Aroha for girls and Ariki/Te Ariki for boys. In Maori, the word aroha means “love” or “affection,” the word ariki means “chieftain” or “leader,” and the word te (in these two cases) is the article “the.”

Here are New Zealand’s top 10 Maori girl names and top 10 Maori boy names:

Maori girl names

  1. Aroha/Te Aroha, 164 baby girls
  2. Amaia, 110
  3. Maia, 103
  4. Anahera, 85
  5. Moana, 70
  6. Manaia, 68
  7. Ataahua, 54
  8. Marama, 51
  9. Atarangi, 41
  10. Tui, 39

Maori boy names

  1. Ariki/Te Ariki, 111 baby boys
  2. Wiremu, 86
  3. Rawiri, 80
  4. Mikaere, 65
  5. Nikau, 63
  6. Koa, 62 (tie)
  7. Manaia, 62 (tie)
  8. Manaaki, 59
  9. Kiwa, 45 (tie)
  10. Kaitoa, 45 (tie)

Please note that the Maori rankings don’t cover the calendar year 2023, as the national rankings do. Instead, they cover births from July 10, 2023, to June 30, 2024. (These dates coincide with Matariki, a.k.a. Maori New Year.)

Finally, here’s a link to New Zealand’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

P.S. Did you know that New Zealand’s closest geographic neighbor in the Pacific is New Caledonia (to the north)?

Sources: Top Baby Names – New Zealand Government, Most common Maori baby names in 2023/24 released for Matariki – Te Ao Maori News, Te Aka Maori Dictionary, New Caledonia – New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)

Most popular baby girl names (length by length) in the U.S. in 2023

Lengths of baby girl names in the U.S. in 2023

Going length by length (e.g., 2 letters long, 3 letters long, 4 letters long…), what were last year’s most popular baby girl names?

Before we get to the lists, a few quick facts:

  • The most common length for girl names in 2023 was 6 letters (used 28.67% of the time), followed by 5 letters (22.02%).
  • The length that increased the most in usage for girl names (from 2022 to 2023) was 5 letters.
  • The length that decreased the most in usage for girl names (from 2022 to 2023) was 7 letters.

Top girl names with 2 letters:

  1. Jo, 46 baby girls
  2. An, 40
  3. Vy, 28
  4. Bo, 22
  5. Zo, 16
  6. Vi, 14
  7. Lu, 11 (tie)
  8. Yi, 11 (tie)
  9. Io, 10
  10. Eh, 9

Top girl names with 3 letters:

  1. Mia, 11,359 baby girls
  2. Ava, 9,682
  3. Zoe, 5,160
  4. Ivy, 5,036
  5. Eva, 2,405
  6. Ada, 1,647
  7. Amy, 1,483
  8. Lia, 1,425
  9. Ana, 1,327
  10. Gia, 1,155

Top girl names with 4 letters:

  1. Emma, 13,527 baby girls
  2. Luna, 7,811
  3. Lily, 6,146
  4. Aria, 5,996
  5. Nora, 5,994
  6. Mila, 5,895
  7. Ella, 5,643
  8. Isla, 5,357
  9. Nova, 5,248
  10. Lucy, 4,858

Top girl names with 5 letters:

  1. Sofia, 7,641 baby girls
  2. Emily, 6,154
  3. Hazel, 6,154
  4. Chloe, 5,960
  5. Ellie, 5,951
  6. Avery, 5,859
  7. Layla, 5,678
  8. Grace, 4,886
  9. Riley, 4,617
  10. Naomi, 4,456

Top girl names with 6 letters:

  1. Olivia, 15,270 baby girls
  2. Amelia, 12,311
  3. Sophia, 11,944
  4. Evelyn, 9,082
  5. Harper, 7,769
  6. Camila, 7,565
  7. Violet, 6,342
  8. Gianna, 6,129
  9. Aurora, 6,054
  10. Eliana, 5,329

Top girl names with 7 letters:

  1. Eleanor, 6,739 baby girls
  2. Abigail, 5,661
  3. Madison, 5,160
  4. Delilah, 4,031
  5. Lillian, 3,927
  6. Paisley, 3,727
  7. Genesis, 3,651
  8. Madelyn, 3,632
  9. Leilani, 3,543
  10. Addison, 3,520

Top girl names with 8 letters:

  1. Isabella, 10,808 baby girls
  2. Scarlett, 6,288
  3. Penelope, 6,041
  4. Victoria, 4,434
  5. Caroline, 2,859
  6. Brooklyn, 2,850
  7. Savannah, 2,739
  8. Madeline, 2,726
  9. Serenity, 2,548
  10. Samantha, 2,363

Top girl names with 9 letters:

  1. Charlotte, 12,596 baby girls
  2. Elizabeth, 6,566
  3. Valentina, 4,075
  4. Josephine, 3,347
  5. Gabriella, 2,782
  6. Everleigh, 1,920
  7. Mackenzie, 1,737
  8. Genevieve, 1,734
  9. Anastasia, 1,725
  10. Katherine, 1,697

Top girl names with 10 letters:

  1. Evangeline, 1,407 baby girls
  2. Alessandra, 788
  3. Alexandria, 755
  4. Jacqueline, 560
  5. Clementine, 554
  6. Persephone, 376
  7. Bernadette, 185
  8. Montserrat, 169
  9. Evangelina, 149
  10. Wilhelmina, 139

Top girl names with 11 letters:

  1. Christianna, 17 baby girls
  2. Anavictoria, 15
  3. Heavenleigh, 13
  4. Alejandrina, 11 (tie)
  5. Oliviagrace, 11 (tie)
  6. Aadhyareddy, 10
  7. Anjolaoluwa, 9 (6-way tie)
  8. Charlierose, 9 (6-way tie)
  9. Mariahelena, 9 (6-way tie)
  10. Mariaisabel, 9 (6-way tie)
  11. Oluwanifemi, 9 (6-way tie)
  12. Stellamarie, 9 (6-way tie)

(I’m excluding the longer names because they’re quite rare overall.)

Source: SSA

Most popular baby boy names (letter by letter) in the U.S. in 2023

First letter usage for baby boy names in the U.S. in 2023

Going letter by letter, what were last year’s most popular baby boy names?

Before we get to the lists, a few quick facts:

  • The most common first letter for boy names in 2023 was J (used 10.98% of the time), followed by A (10.51%) and M (7.60%).
  • The least common first letter for boy names in 2023 was U (used 0.15% of the time), followed by Q (0.16%) and X (0.40%).
  • The first letter that increased the most in usage for boy names (from 2022 to 2023) was T.
  • The first letter that decreased the most in usage for boy names (from 2022 to 2023) was J.

Top boy names starting with A:

  1. Alexander, 7,875 baby boys
  2. Asher, 7,853
  3. Aiden, 6,675
  4. Anthony, 6,237
  5. Angel, 4,865
  6. Andrew, 4,781
  7. Adrian, 4,646
  8. Aaron, 4,551
  9. Axel, 4,498
  10. Amir, 3,620

Top boy names starting with B:

  1. Benjamin, 10,172 baby boys
  2. Brooks, 4,469
  3. Bennett, 4,411
  4. Beau, 4,090
  5. Bryson, 2,434
  6. Brayden, 2,274
  7. Braxton, 2,128
  8. Bentley, 1,906
  9. Beckett, 1,865
  10. Beckham, 1,829

Top boy names starting with C:

  1. Carter, 5,847 baby boys
  2. Caleb, 5,488
  3. Cooper, 5,425
  4. Charles, 5,395
  5. Christopher, 5,171
  6. Cameron, 5,069
  7. Christian, 4,125
  8. Colton, 3,696
  9. Carson, 3,200
  10. Connor, 2,855

Top boy names starting with D:

  1. Daniel, 8,356 baby boys
  2. David, 7,354
  3. Dylan, 7,054
  4. Dominic, 3,395
  5. Damian, 3,281
  6. Declan, 2,799
  7. Diego, 2,734
  8. Dawson, 2,439
  9. Dean, 2,281
  10. Dallas, 1,375

Top boy names starting with E:

  1. Elijah, 11,452 baby boys
  2. Ezra, 8,437
  3. Ethan, 7,763
  4. Elias, 6,980
  5. Ezekiel, 5,569
  6. Eli, 4,081
  7. Everett, 3,808
  8. Enzo, 3,796
  9. Easton, 3,637
  10. Emmett, 3,061

Top boy names starting with F:

  1. Finn, 1,907 baby boys
  2. Felix, 1,894
  3. Finley, 1,171
  4. Francisco, 1,121
  5. Fernando, 967
  6. Franklin, 776
  7. Forrest, 737
  8. Francis, 670
  9. Fabian, 656
  10. Frank, 646

Top boy names starting with G:

  1. Gabriel, 6,745 baby boys
  2. Grayson, 6,449
  3. Gael, 3,616
  4. Greyson, 3,065
  5. Giovanni, 2,911
  6. George, 2,689
  7. Graham, 2,533
  8. Griffin, 1,722
  9. Grant, 1,539
  10. Gavin, 1,512

Top boy names starting with H:

  1. Henry, 10,941 baby boys
  2. Hudson, 7,935
  3. Hunter, 3,110
  4. Harrison, 3,060
  5. Hayden, 2,219
  6. Hayes, 1,746
  7. Holden, 1,171
  8. Hendrix, 1,084
  9. Harvey, 1,022
  10. Hector, 828

Top boy names starting with I:

  1. Isaac, 6,581 baby boys
  2. Isaiah, 5,121
  3. Ian, 4,538
  4. Ivan, 2,384
  5. Israel, 1,530
  6. Ismael, 1,421
  7. Iker, 915
  8. Ibrahim, 774
  9. Isaias, 700
  10. Izaiah, 491

Top boy names starting with J:

  1. James, 11,670 baby boys
  2. Jack, 8,683
  3. John, 7,750
  4. Jackson, 7,284
  5. Joseph, 7,237
  6. Julian, 7,078
  7. Jacob, 6,976
  8. Jayden, 5,627
  9. Josiah, 5,404
  10. Joshua, 5,035

Top boy names starting with K:

  1. Kai, 4,946 baby boys
  2. Kayden, 3,120
  3. Kingston, 2,511
  4. Kaiden, 2,126
  5. Kevin, 1,914
  6. Knox, 1,770
  7. Karter, 1,590
  8. Kairo, 1,484
  9. Kyrie, 1,474
  10. Kash, 1,316

Top boy names starting with L:

  1. Liam, 20,802 baby boys
  2. Lucas, 10,842
  3. Levi, 9,347
  4. Leo, 8,120
  5. Luca, 7,770
  6. Luke, 7,217
  7. Logan, 6,686
  8. Lincoln, 4,842
  9. Leonardo, 4,012
  10. Luka, 3,650

Top boy names starting with M:

  1. Mateo, 11,229 baby boys
  2. Michael, 8,383
  3. Mason, 7,237
  4. Matthew, 7,190
  5. Maverick, 6,962
  6. Miles, 6,558
  7. Micah, 3,875
  8. Myles, 3,399
  9. Milo, 2,950
  10. Matteo, 2,503

Top boy names starting with N:

  1. Noah, 18,995 baby boys
  2. Nolan, 5,112
  3. Nathan, 5,049
  4. Nicholas, 3,242
  5. Nathaniel, 2,507
  6. Nicolas, 1,886
  7. Nico, 1,462
  8. Nash, 1,328
  9. Niko, 1,033
  10. Nasir, 739

Top boy names starting with O:

  1. Oliver, 14,741 baby boys
  2. Owen, 7,985
  3. Oscar, 1,693
  4. Omar, 1,306
  5. Otto, 1,191
  6. Onyx, 1,069
  7. Odin, 897
  8. Orion, 861
  9. Oakley, 799
  10. Ozzy, 526

Top boy names starting with P:

  1. Parker, 3,792 baby boys
  2. Peter, 1,738
  3. Patrick, 1,596
  4. Paul, 1,351 (tie)
  5. Paxton, 1,351 (tie)
  6. Phoenix, 1,243
  7. Preston, 1,228
  8. Prince, 885
  9. Pablo, 850
  10. Pedro, 753

Top boy names starting with Q:

  1. Quinn, 685 baby boys
  2. Quincy, 401
  3. Quentin, 334
  4. Quinton, 301
  5. Quintin, 120
  6. Quinten, 88
  7. Quest, 84
  8. Quadir, 70
  9. Quade, 53
  10. Qasim, 51

Top boy names starting with R:

  1. Roman, 4,777 baby boys
  2. Rowan, 4,195
  3. Ryan, 4,020
  4. Robert, 3,807
  5. River, 3,084
  6. Ryder, 2,822
  7. Rhett, 2,183
  8. Ryker, 1,976
  9. Richard, 1,638
  10. Riley, 1,627

Top boy names starting with S:

  1. Sebastian, 8,865 baby boys
  2. Samuel, 7,973
  3. Santiago, 6,328
  4. Silas, 4,070
  5. Sawyer, 2,833
  6. Stetson, 1,987
  7. Simon, 1,398
  8. Steven, 1,387
  9. Saint, 1,059
  10. Sonny, 924

Top boy names starting with T:

  1. Theodore, 11,041 baby boys
  2. Thomas, 6,598
  3. Thiago, 4,505
  4. Theo, 4,122
  5. Tyler, 2,064
  6. Tate, 1,845
  7. Tucker, 1,802
  8. Timothy, 1,733
  9. Tatum, 1,492
  10. Tristan, 1,373

Top boy names starting with U:

  1. Uriel, 606 baby boys
  2. Uriah, 378
  3. Ulises, 221
  4. Ulysses, 169
  5. Umar, 152
  6. Uziel, 111
  7. Usman, 86
  8. Unknown, 67
  9. Uzziah, 65
  10. Uri, 60

Top boy names starting with V:

  1. Vincent, 2,982 baby boys
  2. Victor, 1,687
  3. Valentino, 575
  4. Vicente, 441
  5. Valentin, 372
  6. Vincenzo, 352
  7. Vihaan, 280
  8. Van, 252
  9. Vance, 236
  10. Veer, 224

Top boy names starting with W:

  1. William, 10,598 baby boys
  2. Wyatt, 6,237
  3. Waylon, 4,881
  4. Wesley, 4,539
  5. Weston, 4,356
  6. Walker, 4,006
  7. Walter, 1,272
  8. Warren, 1,080
  9. Wade, 971
  10. Winston, 797

Top boy names starting with X:

  1. Xavier, 3,413 baby boys
  2. Xander, 1,700
  3. Xzavier, 153
  4. Xavi, 118
  5. Xavion, 111
  6. Xaiden, 101
  7. Xavien, 94
  8. Xavian, 91
  9. Xion, 85
  10. Xayden, 65

Top boy names starting with Y:

  1. Yusuf, 610 baby boys
  2. Yosef, 444
  3. Yael, 328
  4. Yehuda, 318
  5. Yousef, 297
  6. Yahir, 290
  7. Yahya, 263
  8. Yadiel, 242
  9. Yaakov, 231
  10. Yisroel, 228

Top boy names starting with Z:

  1. Zion, 2,867 baby boys
  2. Zachary, 2,112
  3. Zayden, 1,898
  4. Zayn, 1,413
  5. Zane, 1,220
  6. Zyaire, 1,029
  7. Zander, 924
  8. Zayne, 717
  9. Zaire, 654
  10. Zaiden, 567

Source: SSA