Rhys
Rhys was given to 778 boys in 2025, #412 among boys’ names; 15,221 Americans have been recorded with it since 1929 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 15,000 Americans named Rhys and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 10 years old and half are between 5 and 16.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rhys by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rhys mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rhys is “a male given name from Welsh.”
Borrowed from Welsh Rhys. Doublet of Price, Reece, Rees, Reese, and Rice.
/ɹis/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rhys?
#412 among boys’ names, 2025
Rhys rose from #514 in 2015 to #412 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.29 to 0.46 per 1,000.
995 babies in 2024, the peak
Rhys peaked in 2024, when 995 babies were given it (952 boys, #353 among boys’ names). The 816 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 82% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 778 | #412 | 0.46 |
| 2024 | 952 | #353 | 0.55 |
| 2023 | 931 | #353 | 0.54 |
| 2022 | 733 | #426 | 0.42 |
| 2021 | 750 | #413 | 0.43 |
| 2020 | 713 | #419 | 0.41 |
| 2019 | 692 | #440 | 0.39 |
| 2018 | 627 | #463 | 0.35 |
| 2017 | 619 | #477 | 0.33 |
| 2016 | 612 | #495 | 0.32 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 560 | #514 | 0.29 |
| 2014 | 580 | #485 | 0.30 |
| 2013 | 560 | #490 | 0.30 |
| 2012 | 576 | #475 | 0.30 |
| 2011 | 539 | #487 | 0.28 |
| 2010 | 550 | #471 | 0.29 |
| 2009 | 456 | #578 | 0.23 |
| 2008 | 359 | #676 | 0.18 |
| 2007 | 263 | #811 | 0.13 |
| 2006 | 205 | #925 | 0.10 |
| 2005 | 177 | #983 | 0.09 |
| 2004 | 180 | #940 | 0.09 |
| 2003 | 152 | #1,037 | 0.08 |
| 2002 | 144 | #1,058 | 0.07 |
| 2001 | 145 | #1,021 | 0.07 |
| 2000 | 134 | #1,066 | 0.07 |
| 1999 | 116 | #1,138 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 98 | #1,242 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 77 | #1,417 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 76 | #1,395 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 62 | #1,540 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 57 | #1,625 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 68 | #1,410 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 39 | #2,026 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 52 | #1,621 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 51 | #1,624 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 32 | #2,186 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 41 | #1,723 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 40 | #1,702 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 29 | #2,042 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 41 | #1,586 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 30 | #1,875 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 23 | #2,256 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 27 | #2,046 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 24 | #2,185 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 27 | #2,042 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 23 | #2,218 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,612 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 8 | #4,488 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 6 | #5,462 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,611 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,832 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 11 | #3,167 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 7 | #4,291 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 10 | #3,238 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 11 | #2,823 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 10 | #2,874 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 7 | #3,481 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 9 | #2,936 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 8 | #3,191 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 13 | #2,387 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 13 | #2,392 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 10 | #2,812 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 16 | #2,126 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 14 | #2,293 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 5 | #4,453 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 11 | #2,611 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,982 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 17 | #2,003 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 15 | #2,116 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 13 | #2,294 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 11 | #2,501 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 11 | #2,478 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 6 | #3,644 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,261 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 8 | #2,975 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 5 | #4,080 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 9 | #2,658 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 5 | #3,911 | under 0.01 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,191 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rhys a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 15,221 Americans recorded as Rhys, 6% are girls and 94% boys. In 2025 it went to 38 girls and 778 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Rhys: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rhys, and how old are they?
15,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 15,221 Americans ever recorded as Rhys. The median Rhys alive today is 10 years old; half are between 5 and 16.
The 2020 Census counted 10,334 people named Rhys (681 women and girls, 9,653 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,090 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 132 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 141 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 673 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,490 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 9,530 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Rhys born?
The states with the most babies named Rhys are Pennsylvania, California and Texas, with 28% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 92 | #138 | 1.6× |
| California | 61 | #507 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 54 | #628 | 0.6× |
| New York | 47 | #380 | 0.9× |
| Virginia | 36 | #244 | 1.2× |
| Florida | 34 | #527 | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 31 | #369 | 0.7× |
| New Jersey | 29 | #303 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 24 | #451 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 24 | #456 | 0.8× |
Where Rhys is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rhys is most over-represented in Pennsylvania: since 1929 it was given 1.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Rhys with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 15,272 babies since 1880, Rhys is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 816 of their 816 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Rhys
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Rhys and names like it
- Compare Rhys and RiesBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sRhys peaked in 2024.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rhys since 1910.
- Welsh namesWiktionary’s origin for Rhys: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Rhys.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Rhys alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with RMost given first.