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Reilly

Feminine

Reilly is given to both — 5,528 girls and 4,560 boys since 1880. See Reilly as a boy nameSee other names given to both

1978high 1998
#2822 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare60 girls in 2025

Reilly is one of the great Irish surnames, and the family behind it ruled a piece of Ireland for centuries. It has also given English an idiom — the life of Reilly — which arrives with the name whether anyone wants it or not.

How old is the name Reilly?

Reilly first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Reilly alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 5,500 people named Reilly are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Reilly most popular?

Reilly peaked in 1997, reaching #622 nationally. Today it ranks #2822, 2,200 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.

Compare this nameMore “R” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Reilly

The O'Reillys were lords of East Bréifne, roughly the modern County Cavan, and they were powerful enough to mint their own coinage in the fifteenth century — which is one proposed and much-disputed origin for the American slang word for money. The surname came to the United States in large numbers with nineteenth-century emigration, and the phrase 'the life of Reilly', for an easy and comfortable existence, entered English from a music-hall song. Its use as a girls' first name is American and recent, and it belongs to the same movement that brought Kelly, Casey and Shannon forward.

Meaningnot established

Not established

Ó Raghallaigh is the Irish, and the personal name Raghallach at the bottom of it has no agreed meaning. 'Valiant' and readings built on the elements ri, 'king', have both been offered and neither is established. This is common with the older Irish personal names: the surname is documented for a thousand years and the word it was made from is not recoverable.

How the name formed

  1. Raghallach
  2. Ó Raghallaigh
  3. Reilly

Related forms: Ó Raghallaigh · Riley · O'Reilly

Pronouncing Reilly

RY-lee

Two syllables, stress on the first, the opening rhyming with my. Identical in sound to Riley; the ei spelling is the older Irish-derived one and changes nothing you can hear.

Nicknames for Reilly

Moderate

ReiThe front of the name, said 'Ray'
LeeTaken from the back of the name, and a complete name in its own right
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1978–202537919003796019782025

US babies named Reilly per year from 1978 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#6221970s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1978
Most girls named
1998379 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#622reached in 1997
Change vs 2024
−6.3%60 in 2025, from 64
Reilly sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 1998, with 379 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.

Reilly in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Ó Raghallaigh in Irish — related form
  • Riley in English — spelling variant
  • O'Reilly in English — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Pennsylvania, California.

Reillys among us

5,500

people named Reilly are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 26,788 born in 2025 was named Reilly

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

III

Is it right for you

The Annabell test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Reilly's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Annabell climbed just as high around 1906, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Annabell's path sketches the road Reilly is walking now.

40%chance Reilly will feel dated by 2040
Reilly, aligned on its peakAnnabell· peak 1906not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-20 yrs+70 yrsAnnabell · #4639Reilly today
Reilly today is about where Annabell stood in 1934 — 28 years past a #622-sized peak. By 1949, Annabell had settled around #1724.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Reilly sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.

A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored

Where Reilly is headed

19782030

US babies named Reilly per year, 1978 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Reilly should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady-8% by 2030projected around #3,095 in 2030

Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Reilly beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Reilly in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Reillythis name60#2822Lya60#2822Roxanna60#2822Kensington60#2822Maybelle60#2822

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • A documented Irish surname with a genuine thousand-year record behind it.
  • Two syllables and no difficult sounds, so it is never mispronounced.
  • The ei spelling is the more Irish-looking of the two, which is often the point of choosing it.
What to consider
  • Riley is far more common as a first name, and this spelling will be corrected constantly.
  • Reilly, Riley, Rylee, Ryleigh and Rylie are five live spellings of one sound.
  • Its meaning is genuinely unknown, so any gloss offered for it is a guess.

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What they receive

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Reilly

Feminine · #2822 in the U.S.

♥ Love itNot for meLet’s talk about it
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Frequently asked

How many Reillys are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,500 people named Reilly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How popular is the name Reilly in 2025?
Reilly ranks #2822 among US girl names in 2025, with 60 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Reilly?
About 1 in every 26,788 US girls born in 2025 was named Reilly — 60 in all.
Will my child share the name Reilly with classmates?
Reilly will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Reilly

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Lya#2822 · Roxanna#2822 · Kensington#2822 · Maybelle#2822 · Hayat#2822 · Seven#2822 · Livie#2822 · Haniya#2822

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Reilly? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Reilly and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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