Ryan

Did you know?

A few things about Ryan you might not know, from US birth records and Wikipedia. Handy for convincing a partner, or a grandparent.

⭐ Famous Ryan

Ryan Reynolds

Canadian-American actor (born 1976)

Choose Ryan and your child shares a first name with Ryan Reynolds, a Canadian-American actor. A ready-made answer when someone asks “Ryan, like who?” Ryan Reynolds's Wikipedia article is available in 91 languages, a good sign of just how widely known they are.

Read about Ryan Reynolds on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Photo: Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab), via Wikimedia Commons

• 👶How commonAbout 1 in every 484 baby boys born in the US in 2025 was named Ryan, 3,532 babies in all. In a school of 500 kids, there'd probably be one other Ryan.
• 📜HistoryRyan first shows up in US birth records in 1906, the first year at least 5 babies got it. It has been in use for 119 years since.
• 🏆Best yearIt was far more popular in 1991, when it ranked #11. Today it's #99, so it could be due a comeback.
• 📉Then vs nowRyan was 5.0× more common in 2000 than it is today. In 2000 it was given to about 1 in 97 baby boys; in 2025, about 1 in 484.
• 🍂TrendRyan has slipped 42 places over the last five years and now sits at #99. Good news if you want a familiar name that fewer kids will share.
• 📍Where it's lovedRyan is most popular in New Jersey, where it ranks #43, followed by New York (#45) and Massachusetts (#49). It makes the top 1,000 in almost every state.
• ⚖️Boy or girlRyan is given to both boys and girls: 90% of the 3,925 babies named Ryan in 2025 were boys. That makes it one of the names that truly works for either.
• 💬MeaningIn Irish, Ryan means “little king”. Our records link it to Celtic and Irish roots.
• 🌍OriginRyan is the #9 most popular Irish boy name in the US. That's out of 2,373 Irish boy and unisex names in our list.

About the name Ryan

Ryan is a gender-neutral name of Celtic and Irish origin meaning “little king”. It has 4 letters and 1 syllable, starting with R and ending in “-yan”. US birth records list Ryan for boys from 1906 to 2025, in 114 of those 120 years. Its best year was 1991, when it ranked #11 among boy names. In 2025 it ranked #99, with 3,532 babies. Of the 3,925 US babies named Ryan in 2025, 10% were girls and 90% were boys.

Origin:Celtic namesIrish names