Rory
Rory is a unisex name: 1,332 girls and 1,768 boys were given it in 2025 (#230 among girls’ names and #199 among boys’, #198 among all names counting both); 49,421 Americans have been recorded with it since 1933 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 46,300 Americans named Rory and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 14 years old and half are between 5 and 41.
Rory is among the most evenly shared names of 2025: #8 of 43 unisex names by how close its split is to half and half.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rory by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rory mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rory is “a male given name from Irish.” Its etymology gives the senses “red-haired king” (Ruairí) and “red king” (Ruaidrí).
Also “a diminutive of the male given name Roderick.”
Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Ruairidh and Irish Ruairí (“red-haired king”), from Old Irish Ruaidrí (“red king”).
/ˈɹɔːɹi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rory?
#199 among boys’ names, 2025
Rory rose from #379 in 2015 to #199 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.45 to 1.0 per 1,000.
3,100 babies in 2025, the peak
Rory peaked in 2025, when 3,100 babies were given it (1,768 boys, #199 among boys’ names). In 2024 it went to 1,596 boys.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,332 | #230 | 1,768 | #199 |
| 2024 | 1,105 | #287 | 1,596 | #227 |
| 2023 | 1,006 | #305 | 1,447 | #242 |
| 2022 | 959 | #336 | 1,229 | #280 |
| 2021 | 791 | #399 | 1,135 | #295 |
| 2020 | 675 | #458 | 997 | #330 |
| 2019 | 677 | #459 | 924 | #358 |
| 2018 | 530 | #581 | 884 | #369 |
| 2017 | 534 | #566 | 862 | #380 |
| 2016 | 470 | #637 | 828 | #386 |
Every recorded year (88)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 419 | #683 | 853 | #379 |
| 2014 | 330 | #839 | 748 | #417 |
| 2013 | 285 | #900 | 610 | #460 |
| 2012 | 248 | #1,024 | 564 | #481 |
| 2011 | 288 | #910 | 413 | #599 |
| 2010 | 245 | #1,023 | 304 | #748 |
| 2009 | 287 | #934 | 303 | #758 |
| 2008 | 275 | #976 | 281 | #784 |
| 2007 | 245 | #1,073 | 260 | #829 |
| 2006 | 231 | #1,094 | 246 | #830 |
| 2005 | 198 | #1,167 | 283 | #718 |
| 2004 | 201 | #1,138 | 264 | #724 |
| 2003 | 234 | #988 | 316 | #645 |
| 2002 | 187 | #1,118 | 258 | #698 |
| 2001 | 142 | #1,353 | 236 | #740 |
| 2000 | 85 | #1,975 | 290 | #631 |
| 1999 | 59 | #2,459 | 287 | #628 |
| 1998 | 53 | #2,603 | 302 | #609 |
| 1997 | 45 | #2,762 | 240 | #678 |
| 1996 | 40 | #3,008 | 242 | #676 |
| 1995 | 30 | #3,645 | 204 | #752 |
| 1994 | 35 | #3,284 | 223 | #696 |
| 1993 | 24 | #4,344 | 228 | #683 |
| 1992 | 29 | #3,752 | 273 | #623 |
| 1991 | 31 | #3,517 | 333 | #557 |
| 1990 | 31 | #3,491 | 374 | #511 |
| 1989 | 39 | #2,852 | 396 | #480 |
| 1988 | 34 | #3,020 | 406 | #447 |
| 1987 | 27 | #3,388 | 390 | #450 |
| 1986 | 32 | #2,956 | 444 | #407 |
| 1985 | 39 | #2,531 | 502 | #367 |
| 1984 | 38 | #2,505 | 549 | #342 |
| 1983 | 40 | #2,389 | 535 | #341 |
| 1982 | 42 | #2,358 | 735 | #281 |
| 1981 | 26 | #3,319 | 426 | #394 |
| 1980 | 28 | #3,117 | 355 | #439 |
| 1979 | 28 | #3,051 | 342 | #433 |
| 1978 | 39 | #2,341 | 418 | #376 |
| 1977 | 51 | #1,947 | 538 | #335 |
| 1976 | 33 | #2,471 | 240 | #520 |
| 1975 | 21 | #3,376 | 160 | #648 |
| 1974 | 27 | #2,740 | 167 | #623 |
| 1973 | 24 | #2,893 | 131 | #703 |
| 1972 | 32 | #2,341 | 187 | #583 |
| 1971 | 36 | #2,234 | 204 | #575 |
| 1970 | 51 | #1,776 | 281 | #483 |
| 1969 | 105 | #1,085 | 351 | #422 |
| 1968 | 18 | #3,135 | 171 | #579 |
| 1967 | under 5 | 202 | #526 | |
| 1966 | under 5 | 255 | #481 | |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,304 | 353 | #416 |
| 1964 | 9 | #4,921 | 366 | #424 |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,827 | 386 | #410 |
| 1962 | 14 | #3,559 | 508 | #349 |
| 1961 | 14 | #3,568 | 507 | #351 |
| 1960 | 11 | #4,115 | 638 | #311 |
| 1959 | 17 | #2,959 | 802 | #280 |
| 1958 | 16 | #3,057 | 486 | #347 |
| 1957 | 19 | #2,713 | 476 | #345 |
| 1956 | 34 | #1,861 | 511 | #327 |
| 1955 | 17 | #2,818 | 375 | #372 |
| 1954 | 13 | #3,294 | 297 | #415 |
| 1953 | 22 | #2,284 | 214 | #479 |
| 1952 | 12 | #3,348 | 163 | #547 |
| 1951 | 32 | #1,727 | 134 | #606 |
| 1950 | 41 | #1,447 | 163 | #533 |
| 1949 | 45 | #1,389 | 150 | #545 |
| 1948 | 43 | #1,419 | 122 | #615 |
| 1947 | 41 | #1,481 | 73 | #812 |
| 1946 | under 5 | 36 | #1,173 | |
| 1945 | under 5 | 20 | #1,526 | |
| 1944 | under 5 | 14 | #1,966 | |
| 1943 | under 5 | 14 | #2,058 | |
| 1942 | under 5 | 16 | #1,852 | |
| 1941 | under 5 | 10 | #2,465 | |
| 1940 | under 5 | 7 | #3,087 | |
| 1939 | under 5 | 5 | #3,887 | |
| 1933 | under 5 | 5 | #4,064 |
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 Rory a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 49,421 Americans recorded as Rory, 27% are girls and 73% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Rory: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rory, and how old are they?
46,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 49,421 Americans ever recorded as Rory. The median Rory alive today is 14 years old; half are between 5 and 41.
The 2020 Census counted 32,392 people named Rory (7,573 women and girls, 24,819 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 33,545 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 32 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,850 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,320 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,440 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 7,760 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 22,800 |
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 Rory born?
The states with the most babies named Rory are California, New York and Texas, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 235 | #271 | 0.9× |
| New York | 200 | #168 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 193 | #370 | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 156 | #144 | 1.1× |
| Massachusetts | 150 | #58 | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 145 | #120 | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 143 | #176 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 123 | #283 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 110 | #167 | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 94 | #153 | 0.8× |
Where Rory is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rory is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1933 it was given 1.5 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 Rory 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 462,940 babies since 1880, Rory is the second most given (11% of them). In 2025 it was given to 3,100 of their 3,757 babies (83%), the 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 Rory
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 Rory and names like it
- Compare Rory and RoyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sRory peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rory since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Rory: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Rory.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Rory alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with RMost given first.