Rye
Rye is given to both girls and boys: 11 girls and 53 boys were given it in 2025 (#9,348 among girls’ names and #2,531 among boys’, #4,781 among all names counting both); 1,236 Americans have been recorded with it since 1971 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,220 Americans named Rye and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 5 and 17.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rye by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rye mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rye is “a nickname of the given name Ryan.”
As an English surname, variant of Rea.
Also as an English surname, from the noun rye.
As a Norwegian surname, from several farmsteads whose name derive from Old Norse rjóðr (“forest clearing”); see the verb ryðja (“to clear”).
As a Danish surname, from the town Ry in Skanderbord.
The town in England is perhaps derived from Old English riþ (“river, stream”) whence also rith; compare ree.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rye?
#2,531 among boys’ names, 2025
Rye rose from #2,949 in 2015 to #2,531 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 20.9 to 31.0 per million.
86 babies in 2020, the peak
Rye peaked in 2020, when 86 babies were given it (76 boys, #1,934 among boys’ names). The 64 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 74% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 | #9,348 | 53 | #2,531 |
| 2024 | under 5 | 57 | #2,440 | |
| 2023 | 15 | #7,569 | 56 | #2,430 |
| 2022 | 19 | #6,416 | 61 | #2,344 |
| 2021 | 18 | #6,629 | 54 | #2,487 |
| 2020 | 10 | #10,127 | 76 | #1,934 |
| 2019 | 11 | #9,627 | 62 | #2,255 |
| 2018 | 15 | #7,697 | 64 | #2,186 |
| 2017 | 8 | #12,527 | 34 | #3,364 |
| 2016 | 8 | #12,673 | 46 | #2,681 |
Every recorded year (46)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 8 | #12,790 | 40 | #2,949 |
| 2014 | 9 | #11,763 | 31 | #3,515 |
| 2013 | 5 | #18,772 | 30 | #3,563 |
| 2012 | 5 | #19,009 | 43 | #2,806 |
| 2011 | under 5 | 29 | #3,679 | |
| 2010 | 9 | #12,068 | 28 | #3,787 |
| 2009 | under 5 | 24 | #4,252 | |
| 2008 | 10 | #11,436 | 14 | #6,331 |
| 2007 | 5 | #19,941 | 20 | #4,763 |
| 2006 | under 5 | 22 | #4,337 | |
| 2005 | under 5 | 20 | #4,425 | |
| 2004 | under 5 | 16 | #5,192 | |
| 2003 | under 5 | 12 | #6,175 | |
| 2002 | under 5 | 7 | #9,188 | |
| 2001 | under 5 | 15 | #5,081 | |
| 2000 | under 5 | 11 | #6,221 | |
| 1998 | under 5 | 10 | #6,201 | |
| 1997 | under 5 | 9 | #6,509 | |
| 1996 | under 5 | 10 | #5,883 | |
| 1995 | under 5 | 5 | #10,017 | |
| 1994 | under 5 | 6 | #8,592 | |
| 1993 | under 5 | 7 | #7,459 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 9 | #5,722 | |
| 1989 | under 5 | 8 | #6,105 | |
| 1988 | under 5 | 7 | #6,293 | |
| 1987 | under 5 | 8 | #5,356 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 6 | #6,573 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 6 | #6,376 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 7 | #5,407 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 11 | #3,766 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 6 | #5,715 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 9 | #3,944 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 5 | #6,163 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 5 | #5,862 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 6 | #4,874 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 5 | #5,518 |
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 Rye a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,236 Americans recorded as Rye, 13% are girls and 87% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Rye: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rye, and how old are they?
1,220 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,236 Americans ever recorded as Rye. The median Rye alive today is 9 years old; half are between 5 and 17.
The 2020 Census counted 1,013 people named Rye (207 women and girls, 806 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 816 born in the U.S. The Census count is 24% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 49 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 69 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 305 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 795 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 12,108 babies since 1880, Rye is the third most given (10% of them). In 2025 it was given to 64 of their 849 babies (7.5%), the second 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 Rye
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 Rye and names like it
- Compare Rye and RioBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sRye peaked in 2020.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rye since 1910.
- The top names of 2020The year the most babies were named Rye.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Rye alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with RMost given first.