Rico
Rico was given to 89 boys in 2025, #1,805 among boys’ names; 9,971 Americans have been recorded with it since 1915 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,270 Americans named Rico and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 19 and 47.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rico by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rico mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rico is “a diminutive of the male given names Ricardo, Federico, and Enrico.”
/ˈɹiːkoʊ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rico?
#1,805 among boys’ names, 2025
Rico fell from #1,403 in 2015 to #1,805 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 64.2 to 52.1 per million.
327 babies in 1976, the peak
Rico peaked in 1976, when 327 babies were given it (318 boys, #436 among boys’ names). The 89 births of 2025 are 27% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 89 | #1,805 | 0.05 |
| 2024 | 99 | #1,695 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 107 | #1,630 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 105 | #1,648 | 0.06 |
| 2021 | 125 | #1,448 | 0.07 |
| 2020 | 120 | #1,448 | 0.07 |
| 2019 | 137 | #1,333 | 0.08 |
| 2018 | 133 | #1,350 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 148 | #1,243 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 121 | #1,441 | 0.06 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 123 | #1,403 | 0.06 |
| 2014 | 150 | #1,224 | 0.08 |
| 2013 | 127 | #1,342 | 0.07 |
| 2012 | 108 | #1,496 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 143 | #1,227 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 133 | #1,295 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 126 | #1,365 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 150 | #1,185 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 148 | #1,194 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 144 | #1,177 | 0.07 |
| 2005 | 116 | #1,313 | 0.06 |
| 2004 | 150 | #1,069 | 0.08 |
| 2003 | 114 | #1,265 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 121 | #1,171 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 103 | #1,281 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 126 | #1,117 | 0.06 |
| 1999 | 130 | #1,055 | 0.07 |
| 1998 | 146 | #953 | 0.08 |
| 1997 | 143 | #943 | 0.08 |
| 1996 | 137 | #945 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 157 | #867 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 177 | #798 | 0.09 |
| 1993 | 232 | #673 | 0.12 |
| 1992 | 236 | #674 | 0.12 |
| 1991 | 319 | #566 | 0.16 |
| 1990 | 295 | #584 | 0.14 |
| 1989 | 280 | #584 | 0.14 |
| 1988 | 214 | #648 | 0.11 |
| 1987 | 175 | #687 | 0.09 |
| 1986 | 184 | #662 | 0.10 |
| 1985 | 146 | #732 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 144 | #728 | 0.08 |
| 1983 | 157 | #684 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 177 | #656 | 0.10 |
| 1981 | 151 | #705 | 0.08 |
| 1980 | 216 | #585 | 0.12 |
| 1979 | 200 | #608 | 0.12 |
| 1978 | 225 | #557 | 0.14 |
| 1977 | 233 | #547 | 0.14 |
| 1976 | 318 | #436 | 0.20 |
| 1975 | 222 | #540 | 0.14 |
| 1974 | 192 | #580 | 0.12 |
| 1973 | 175 | #596 | 0.11 |
| 1972 | 152 | #648 | 0.09 |
| 1971 | 190 | #604 | 0.11 |
| 1970 | 142 | #698 | 0.08 |
| 1969 | 71 | #909 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 64 | #908 | 0.04 |
| 1967 | 47 | #1,081 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 40 | #1,190 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 43 | #1,158 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 40 | #1,229 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 38 | #1,270 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 27 | #1,538 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 59 | #1,024 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 31 | #1,457 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 36 | #1,316 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 16 | #2,078 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 23 | #1,710 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 28 | #1,505 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 17 | #1,958 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 13 | #2,295 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 10 | #2,676 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 13 | #2,230 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 13 | #2,227 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 8 | #2,974 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 14 | #2,101 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,597 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 6 | #3,669 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 5 | #3,814 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,177 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,158 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 5 | #3,839 | under 0.01 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,635 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,199 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 6 | #3,598 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,308 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,872 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 9 | #3,024 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 8 | #3,323 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #4,833 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 5 | #4,770 | under 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,832 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 6 | #4,239 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 9 | #3,163 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 7 | #3,639 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 8 | #3,156 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 11 | #2,426 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Rico a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rico has been given almost only to boys: 45 girls in 98 years of records.
Girls and boys named Rico: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rico, and how old are they?
9,270 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 9,971 Americans ever recorded as Rico. The median Rico alive today is 35 years old; half are between 19 and 47.
The 2020 Census counted 8,753 people named Rico (78 women and girls, 8,675 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 8,830 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 12 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 285 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,300 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,030 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,070 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,570 |
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 Rico born?
The states with the most babies named Rico are California, Georgia and Texas, with 38% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,083 | #1,230 | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 844 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Texas | 683 | #1,245 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 485 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Florida | 436 | #2,037 | 1.0× |
| Tennessee | 428 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Michigan | 361 | #1,228 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 357 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 353 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| South Carolina | 254 | not ranked | 1.8× |
Where Rico is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rico is most over-represented in Georgia: since 1915 it was given 2.9 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 Rico 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 239,287 babies since 1880, Rico is the second most given (4.2% of them). In 2025 it was given to 89 of their 373 babies (24%), 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 Rico
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 Rico and names like it
- Compare Rico and RickyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sRico peaked in 1976.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rico since 1910.
- The top names of 1976The year the most babies were named Rico.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Rico alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with RMost given first.