Ryan

What Ryan means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Ryan yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 29,905 babies; 3,532 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Ryan?

US: Falling: down from #39 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #69 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1985, when 29,905 boys got the name (#12 that year). First in the US records in 1906.

How common

• About 1 in 484 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 727 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 418 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NH (5.11 per 1,000 boys), NJ (4.65 per 1,000 boys), CT (4.62 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Ryan is #99 in the US and #135 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 90.0% of US babies named Ryan were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Rayan499 US · 291 E&W
• Rayyan224 US · 261 E&W
• Riyan85 US · 38 E&W
• Reyan42 US · 29 E&W
• Raiyan25 US · 34 E&W
• Rayen0 US · 17 E&W
• Ryaan7 US · 7 E&W
• Royan11 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Ryan

Boys

• Kevin#221“dear birth/person”^*
• Shane#635“God is gracious”^*
• Sean#489“God is gracious”^*
• Shawn#681“God is gracious”^*
• Brandon#261“broom shrub + hill, dune”^*
• Brian#339Same root as Brendan, meaning “prince, king”^*

For a sister

• Jennifer#586Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1972, with 63,600 babies; 501 in 2025
• Kimberly#302Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #108 in 2015, #302 in 2025
• Megan#887Diminutive of Margaret, meaning “pearl”^*
• Kelly#851Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1977, with 18,234 babies; 319 in 2025
• Sarah#90“masters, princes”^*
• Paige#346possibly “servant”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Arabic, From a surname, Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ryan’s. Rank is US 2025.