Rickey
Rickey was given to 45 boys in 2025, #2,826 among boys’ names; 62,391 Americans have been recorded with it since 1924 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 47,100 Americans named Rickey and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (75% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 50 and 70.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rickey by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rickey mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rickey is “a variant of Ricky, diminutive of the male given name Richard.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rickey?
#2,826 among boys’ names, 2025
Rickey fell from #1,736 in 2015 to #2,826 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 46.4 to 26.3 per million.
3,818 babies in 1958, the peak
Rickey peaked in 1958, when 3,818 babies were given it (3,782 boys, #106 among boys’ names). The 45 births of 2025 are 1% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 45 | #2,826 | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 47 | #2,786 | 0.03 |
| 2023 | 43 | #2,935 | 0.03 |
| 2022 | 47 | #2,785 | 0.03 |
| 2021 | 69 | #2,103 | 0.04 |
| 2020 | 66 | #2,132 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 66 | #2,166 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 66 | #2,137 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 86 | #1,789 | 0.05 |
| 2016 | 78 | #1,899 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (100)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 89 | #1,736 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 107 | #1,511 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 105 | #1,534 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 97 | #1,612 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 109 | #1,491 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 119 | #1,406 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 123 | #1,388 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 130 | #1,332 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 148 | #1,193 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 165 | #1,079 | 0.08 |
| 2005 | 149 | #1,108 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 143 | #1,112 | 0.07 |
| 2003 | 141 | #1,095 | 0.07 |
| 2002 | 172 | #935 | 0.09 |
| 2001 | 167 | #932 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 176 | #890 | 0.09 |
| 1999 | 188 | #813 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 160 | #904 | 0.08 |
| 1997 | 224 | #706 | 0.12 |
| 1996 | 211 | #728 | 0.11 |
| 1995 | 251 | #659 | 0.13 |
| 1994 | 252 | #657 | 0.13 |
| 1993 | 311 | #585 | 0.16 |
| 1992 | 324 | #564 | 0.16 |
| 1991 | 363 | #531 | 0.18 |
| 1990 | 382 | #503 | 0.19 |
| 1989 | 424 | #456 | 0.21 |
| 1988 | 429 | #437 | 0.22 |
| 1987 | 406 | #442 | 0.22 |
| 1986 | 434 | #410 | 0.24 |
| 1985 | 500 | #370 | 0.27 |
| 1984 | 510 | #357 | 0.28 |
| 1983 | 502 | #355 | 0.28 |
| 1982 | 556 | #339 | 0.31 |
| 1981 | 580 | #330 | 0.32 |
| 1980 | 576 | #329 | 0.32 |
| 1979 | 526 | #344 | 0.31 |
| 1978 | 500 | #344 | 0.30 |
| 1977 | 553 | #330 | 0.34 |
| 1976 | 551 | #322 | 0.35 |
| 1975 | 534 | #329 | 0.34 |
| 1974 | 477 | #354 | 0.30 |
| 1973 | 496 | #342 | 0.32 |
| 1972 | 504 | #342 | 0.31 |
| 1971 | 525 | #349 | 0.30 |
| 1970 | 561 | #340 | 0.30 |
| 1969 | 594 | #314 | 0.33 |
| 1968 | 768 | #260 | 0.44 |
| 1967 | 766 | #263 | 0.44 |
| 1966 | 945 | #227 | 0.53 |
| 1965 | 1,118 | #215 | 0.60 |
| 1964 | 1,356 | #205 | 0.68 |
| 1963 | 1,680 | #175 | 0.83 |
| 1962 | 1,887 | #169 | 0.91 |
| 1961 | 2,255 | #153 | 1.1 |
| 1960 | 2,573 | #138 | 1.2 |
| 1959 | 3,458 | #117 | 1.6 |
| 1958 | 3,782 | #106 | 1.8 |
| 1957 | 3,522 | #108 | 1.6 |
| 1956 | 3,263 | #112 | 1.5 |
| 1955 | 3,065 | #114 | 1.5 |
| 1954 | 3,130 | #113 | 1.5 |
| 1953 | 2,840 | #113 | 1.4 |
| 1952 | 2,052 | #140 | 1.1 |
| 1951 | 1,543 | #166 | 0.82 |
| 1950 | 1,301 | #173 | 0.73 |
| 1949 | 1,087 | #191 | 0.61 |
| 1948 | 1,020 | #197 | 0.58 |
| 1947 | 809 | #226 | 0.44 |
| 1946 | 483 | #294 | 0.30 |
| 1945 | 262 | #372 | 0.19 |
| 1944 | 207 | #424 | 0.15 |
| 1943 | 104 | #622 | 0.07 |
| 1942 | 66 | #793 | 0.05 |
| 1941 | 41 | #1,014 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 20 | #1,558 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 15 | #1,855 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 19 | #1,604 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,173 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 22 | #1,453 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,503 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 16 | #1,842 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 19 | #1,632 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,182 | under 0.01 |
| 1931 | 6 | #3,677 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 9 | #2,966 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,871 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 7 | #3,639 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,107 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #4,832 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rickey a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 62,391 Americans recorded as Rickey, 1% are girls and 99% boys. In 2025 it went to 45 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Rickey: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rickey, and how old are they?
47,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 75% of the 62,391 Americans ever recorded as Rickey. The median Rickey alive today is 65 years old; half are between 50 and 70.
The 2020 Census counted 34,441 people named Rickey (285 women and girls, 34,156 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 50,909 born in the U.S. The Census count is 32% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 334 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 28,500 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 8,870 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,140 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,370 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 907 |
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 Rickey born?
The states with the most babies named Rickey are Texas, California and Alabama, with 26% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Alabama is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 7,069 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| California | 4,030 | #2,408 | 0.7× |
| Alabama | 3,862 | not ranked | 3.2× |
| Tennessee | 3,664 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Georgia | 3,155 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Arkansas | 2,984 | not ranked | 4.4× |
| Louisiana | 2,982 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Illinois | 2,591 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 2,534 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 2,471 | not ranked | 1.4× |
Where Rickey is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rickey is most over-represented in Arkansas: since 1924 it was given 4.4 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 Rickey 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 306,251 babies since 1880, Rickey is the second most given (20% of them). In 2025 it was given to 45 of their 335 babies (13%), again the second 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 Rickey
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 Rickey and names like it
- Compare Rickey and RickyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sRickey peaked in 1958.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rickey since 1910.
- The top names of 1958The year the most babies were named Rickey.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Rickey alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.