River
River is a unisex name: 1,401 girls and 3,139 boys were given it in 2025 (#220 among girls’ names and #111 among boys’, #125 among all names counting both); 59,351 Americans have been recorded with it since 1971 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 58,900 Americans named River and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 7 years old and half are between 4 and 11.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of River by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does River mean?
Wiktionary, English section
River is “a unisex given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is River?
#111 among boys’ names, 2025
River rose from #244 in 2015 to #111 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.79 to 1.8 per 1,000.
5,430 babies in 2022, the peak
River peaked in 2022, when 5,430 babies were given it (3,500 boys, #105 among boys’ names). The 4,540 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 84% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,401 | #220 | 3,139 | #111 |
| 2024 | 1,442 | #215 | 3,160 | #112 |
| 2023 | 1,587 | #193 | 3,117 | #116 |
| 2022 | 1,930 | #150 | 3,500 | #105 |
| 2021 | 1,886 | #149 | 3,504 | #110 |
| 2020 | 1,562 | #184 | 2,816 | #129 |
| 2019 | 1,441 | #212 | 2,371 | #168 |
| 2018 | 1,333 | #244 | 2,078 | #197 |
| 2017 | 1,181 | #270 | 1,969 | #200 |
| 2016 | 1,132 | #285 | 1,852 | #212 |
Every recorded year (46)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 951 | #348 | 1,516 | #244 |
| 2014 | 708 | #453 | 1,243 | #287 |
| 2013 | 488 | #586 | 830 | #371 |
| 2012 | 412 | #683 | 722 | #405 |
| 2011 | 293 | #892 | 645 | #424 |
| 2010 | 262 | #975 | 634 | #434 |
| 2009 | 281 | #951 | 619 | #449 |
| 2008 | 249 | #1,052 | 611 | #454 |
| 2007 | 229 | #1,130 | 464 | #554 |
| 2006 | 181 | #1,298 | 505 | #514 |
| 2005 | 92 | #2,050 | 476 | #517 |
| 2004 | 100 | #1,889 | 420 | #549 |
| 2003 | 72 | #2,338 | 388 | #571 |
| 2002 | 67 | #2,402 | 329 | #611 |
| 2001 | 72 | #2,250 | 323 | #608 |
| 2000 | 51 | #2,845 | 314 | #612 |
| 1999 | 55 | #2,597 | 359 | #558 |
| 1998 | 53 | #2,602 | 435 | #496 |
| 1997 | 45 | #2,761 | 389 | #519 |
| 1996 | 36 | #3,282 | 269 | #632 |
| 1995 | 25 | #4,184 | 278 | #618 |
| 1994 | 12 | #7,488 | 141 | #923 |
| 1993 | 12 | #7,358 | 54 | #1,653 |
| 1992 | 7 | #11,410 | 37 | #2,116 |
| 1991 | 12 | #7,299 | 28 | #2,522 |
| 1990 | 10 | #8,353 | 33 | #2,200 |
| 1989 | under 5 | 40 | #1,882 | |
| 1988 | 5 | #13,377 | 13 | #3,857 |
| 1987 | under 5 | 13 | #3,680 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 5 | #7,582 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 6 | #6,233 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 5 | #7,054 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 7 | #4,679 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 5 | #5,834 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 8 | #3,893 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 6 | #4,804 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is River a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 59,351 Americans recorded as River, 33% are girls and 67% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named River: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named River, and how old are they?
58,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 59,351 Americans ever recorded as River. The median River alive today is 7 years old; half are between 4 and 11.
The 2020 Census counted 28,392 people named River (9,453 women and girls, 18,939 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 31,150 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 23 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,010 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 10,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 47,800 |
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 River born?
The states with the most babies named River are California, Texas and Florida, with 23% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 404 | #139 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 380 | #152 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 249 | #125 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 194 | #75 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 179 | #89 | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 177 | #110 | 0.9× |
| New York | 176 | #165 | 0.5× |
| Tennessee | 169 | #57 | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 147 | #129 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 141 | #103 | 1.0× |
Where River is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, River is most over-represented in Arkansas: since 1971 it was given 1.9 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 River 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 60,924 babies since 1880, River is the most given (97% of them). In 2025 it was given to 4,540 of their 4,676 babies (97%), 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 River
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 River and names like it
- Compare River and RyverBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sRiver peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named River since 1910.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named River.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named River alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with RMost given first.