Unisex, used for both girls and boys · Irish · International
Riley
RileySay it RYE-lee
- Meaning today
- Valiant, courageous
- Original meaning
- "descendant of Raghallach, an Irish surname (Ó Raghallaigh)" Patrick Woulfe
- Say it
- RYE-lee
- Other spellings
- Rylee, Reilly, Ryley
Riley
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Riley meaning
Riley is an international unisex name of Irish origin, used for both girls and boys.
Meaning today
Valiant, courageous
Original Irish meaning
"descendant of Raghallach, an Irish surname (Ó Raghallaigh)"
Source: Patrick Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1923) · entry Ó Raghallaigh · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
Riley is an English form of the Irish surname Ó Raghallaigh, best known as O'Reilly. Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames explains it as "descendant of Raghallach" and says the O'Reillys were chiefs of Breifne, most of present-day County Cavan, who kept their independence until the seventeenth century; he gives no meaning for Raghallach itself. Name lists usually say Riley means "valiant" or "courageous", which we could not confirm. There is also an unrelated English surname Riley from place names. In the US it is used for both girls and boys. It is said RYE-lee.
References: Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames, Ó Raghallaigh (Library Ireland)
Popularity abroad
- #48 United States, girls 2025 (down 6 from 42 in 2024)
US Social Security Administration - #83 England and Wales, boys 2025
Office for National Statistics
Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.
Spellings
Riley · Rylee · Reilly · Ryley