Rilla
Rilla was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,908 among girls’ names; 2,659 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rilla by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rilla mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rilla is “a diminutive of the female given name Marilla.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rilla?
#12,908 among girls’ names, 2025
Rilla fell from #10,016 in 2015 to #12,908 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 6.2 to 4.4 per million.
56 babies in 1914, the peak
Rilla peaked in 1914, when 56 girls were given it, #776 among girls’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 13% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,908 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 14 | #7,879 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 8 | #11,983 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 10 | #10,249 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 14 | #7,947 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 15 | #7,492 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 7 | #13,514 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 7 | #13,521 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 7 | #13,810 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 9 | #11,593 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (111)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 11 | #10,016 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,914 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 8 | #13,199 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 11 | #10,313 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 5 | #19,840 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 7 | #14,798 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 5 | #17,806 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 6 | #13,034 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,430 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 5 | #10,478 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 7 | #7,477 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 5 | #8,987 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 7 | #6,445 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 6 | #6,827 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 8 | #5,333 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 8 | #5,189 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 13 | #3,838 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 10 | #4,474 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,416 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 12 | #3,958 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 9 | #4,697 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 11 | #3,981 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 21 | #2,559 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 7 | #5,275 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 15 | #3,146 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 24 | #2,265 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 15 | #2,985 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 22 | #2,280 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 19 | #2,485 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 31 | #1,766 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 10 | #3,619 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 24 | #2,002 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 17 | #2,473 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 30 | #1,780 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 36 | #1,476 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 23 | #1,785 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 27 | #1,598 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 31 | #1,517 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 32 | #1,465 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 31 | #1,412 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 32 | #1,340 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 32 | #1,323 | 0.03 |
| 1938 | 30 | #1,370 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 39 | #1,159 | 0.04 |
| 1936 | 28 | #1,407 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 27 | #1,439 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 27 | #1,435 | 0.03 |
| 1933 | 36 | #1,193 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 39 | #1,158 | 0.04 |
| 1931 | 30 | #1,371 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 31 | #1,397 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 40 | #1,191 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 34 | #1,333 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 41 | #1,227 | 0.03 |
| 1926 | 22 | #1,869 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 42 | #1,208 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 42 | #1,242 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 39 | #1,264 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 36 | #1,337 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 30 | #1,534 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 53 | #1,027 | 0.04 |
| 1919 | 45 | #1,100 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 46 | #1,086 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 43 | #1,097 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 48 | #1,003 | 0.05 |
| 1915 | 44 | #1,009 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 56 | #776 | 0.07 |
| 1913 | 18 | #1,396 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 25 | #1,051 | 0.04 |
| 1911 | 31 | #788 | 0.07 |
| 1910 | 25 | #875 | 0.06 |
| 1909 | 24 | #840 | 0.07 |
| 1908 | 29 | #728 | 0.09 |
| 1907 | 21 | #832 | 0.07 |
| 1906 | 16 | #952 | 0.05 |
| 1905 | 25 | #727 | 0.09 |
| 1904 | 27 | #678 | 0.10 |
| 1903 | 22 | #729 | 0.08 |
| 1902 | 32 | #590 | 0.12 |
| 1901 | 30 | #575 | 0.13 |
| 1900 | 45 | #508 | 0.15 |
| 1899 | 30 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1898 | 35 | #541 | 0.14 |
| 1897 | 34 | #505 | 0.15 |
| 1896 | 28 | #591 | 0.12 |
| 1895 | 40 | #463 | 0.17 |
| 1894 | 29 | #542 | 0.13 |
| 1893 | 45 | #403 | 0.21 |
| 1892 | 38 | #440 | 0.18 |
| 1891 | 35 | #427 | 0.19 |
| 1890 | 32 | #466 | 0.17 |
| 1889 | 27 | #485 | 0.15 |
| 1888 | 26 | #500 | 0.15 |
| 1887 | 25 | #456 | 0.17 |
| 1886 | 31 | #392 | 0.21 |
| 1885 | 30 | #379 | 0.23 |
| 1884 | 25 | #408 | 0.19 |
| 1883 | 23 | #393 | 0.20 |
| 1882 | 19 | #428 | 0.18 |
| 1881 | 21 | #371 | 0.23 |
| 1880 | 17 | #417 | 0.19 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Rilla a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rilla has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 111 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Rilla: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rilla, and how old are they?
An estimated 619 Americans named Rilla and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (23% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 32 and 81. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 722 people named Rilla (718 women and girls, 4 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 707 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 256,815 babies since 1880, Rilla is the third most given (1.0% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 6,268 babies (<1%), the sixth most given that year.
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 Rilla
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 Rilla and names like it
- Compare Rilla and RileyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sRilla peaked in 1914.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rilla since 1910.
- The top names of 1914The year the most babies were named Rilla.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Rilla alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.