Rhiannon
Feminine · “great queen”
Rhiannon is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 15,539 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Rhiannon comes out of the Mabinogi, the oldest surviving Welsh prose tales, where she rides a white horse that no rider can catch. The name went on to be sung by Stevie Nicks with Fleetwood Mac, which is how most English speakers first met it. Three syllables, stress in the middle, and a spelling that looks harder than it sounds.
How old is the name Rhiannon?
Rhiannon first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Rhiannon alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 15,500 people named Rhiannon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rhiannon most popular?
Rhiannon peaked in 1977, reaching #418 nationally. Today it ranks #1119, 701 places below that high. See the whole 1977 chart.
Rhiannon appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Rigantona to Rhiannon
The story of Rhiannon
Rhiannon is the name of a central figure in the First and Third Branches of the Mabinogi, the Welsh tales written down in medieval manuscripts and drawn from older oral material. In the story she appears on a pale horse that outpaces every pursuer, marries Pwyll of Dyfed, and is later accused of harming her own son and made to carry visitors' saddles at the gate until the truth comes out. Philologists connect her to Rigantona, a goddess name attested in Gaulish territory, which is why the reading 'great queen' is the standard one. The name stayed largely Welsh until the twentieth-century revival of Welsh given names, and then traveled far beyond Wales after Fleetwood Mac put it in a song.
Meaning
great queen, divine queen
The form traces back to a reconstructed Celtic *Rīgantonā, the same name as the Gaulish goddess Rigantona, built on the Celtic word for 'queen'.
How the name formed
- Rigantona
- Riannon
- Rhiannon
Related forms: Rhiannon · Rhianon · Rhian · Rigantona
Pronouncing Rhiannon
ree-AN-on
Stress falls on the middle syllable. In Welsh the opening 'rh' is a breathy r, closer to 'hree', but ree-AN-on is the usual English rendering. First-time readers sometimes try RYE-a-non.
Nicknames for Rhiannon
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 1975 — Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon"
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 1999651 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #418reached in 1977
- Change vs 2024
- +18.0%210 in 2025, from 178
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.
Rhiannon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rhiannon in Welsh — same name
- Rhianon in English — spelling variant
- Rhian in Welsh — related form
- Rigantona in Gaulish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Rhiannons among us
people named Rhiannon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,654 born in 2025 was named Rhiannon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Marylyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rhiannon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marylyn climbed just as high around 1936, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marylyn's path sketches the road Rhiannon is walking now.
Rhiannon 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 Rhiannon is headed
Rhiannon should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Rhiannon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rhiannon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Documented back to medieval Welsh literature and a reconstructed Celtic goddess name, so the history is long and the meaning is not in dispute.
- A widely known song carries the exact spelling, which means many adults have already seen the name written correctly.
- Several short forms in real use — Rhi, Rhia, Annie — giving a formal name and casual options from one spelling.
- Sounds the same in Welsh and English mouths apart from the opening consonant, so it travels without being remade.
- The spelling is the main friction: the silent-feeling h, the double n, and the near-miss with Rihanna mean it will be spelled aloud fairly often, likely for life.
- Many people meet the name through the Fleetwood Mac song first, and some will mention it every time. That fades with each generation, but it is currently part of the package.
- A child with this name will most likely be the only one in her school — good for being known by first name alone, less good on the years when standing out is unwelcome.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Rhiannon
Feminine · #1119 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rhiannons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 15,500 people named Rhiannon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rhiannon in 2025?
- Rhiannon ranks #1119 among US girl names in 2025, with 210 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rhiannon?
- About 1 in every 7,654 US girls born in 2025 was named Rhiannon — 210 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rhiannon with classmates?
- Rhiannon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Rhiannon's chart?
- Rhiannon climbed after 1975 — Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon".
Ranked beside Rhiannon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ida#1120 · Ingrid#1120 · Princess#1120 · Raquel#1120 · Xolani#1120 · Kacey#1117 · Imogen#1117 · Betty#1113
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rhiannon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rhiannon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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