Meaning not yet researched.
River: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 3,139 in 2025. Its best rank was #105 in 2022.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #105 in 2022; #111 in 2025. About 69% of babies named River in 2025 were boys.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#111 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 2022, at #105.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
River: US boys and girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 3,139 boys in 2025. Peak: #105 in 2022 · most boys in one year: 3,504 (2021).
In 2025, 3,139 US boys were named River, making it the 111th most common boys’ name of the year, up 1 place from #112 in 2024. That is 21 fewer than the 3,160 boys named River in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #105, reached in 2022. The most boys given the name in a single year was 3,504, in 2021. For comparison, it was #244 in 2015 and unranked in 1950.
In 2025, 1,401 US girls were named River, making it the 220th most common girls’ name of the year, down 5 places from #215 in 2024. That is 41 fewer than the 1,442 girls named River in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #149, reached in 2021. The most girls given the name in a single year was 1,930, in 2022. For comparison, it was #348 in 2015 and unranked in 1950.
Social Security card records list River in 46 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1971 with 6 babies. In all, 59,351 US babies have been given the name, 33% of them girls and 67% boys. Its busiest decade was the 2020s, with 29,044 babies named River.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 27,506 US boys were named River; the busiest of those years was 2021, with 3,504. In 2025 that was about 1 in 544 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, River ranked highest in Arkansas in 2025, at #42 for boys there. It was in the top 100 in 25 states (counting DC). Related spellings in the SSA files include Ryver (1,573 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Riva, Revere and Rever are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in English. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Riva (1,619), Revere (121), Rever (65), Reaver (38), Rivyr (7).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for River in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US boys. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five boys got the name, so 3 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | 57 | #42 | #98 |
| West Virginia | 32 | #45 | #135 |
| Tennessee | 131 | #57 | #172 |
| Hawaii | 14 | #60 | #229 |
| Montana | 18 | #61 | #282 |
| Oklahoma | 63 | #63 | #133 |
| Alabama | 71 | #65 | #123 |
| Missouri | 90 | #67 | #196 |
| Iowa | 47 | #68 | #374 |
| Idaho | 31 | #69 | #217 |
| Georgia | 145 | #75 | #180 |
| Oregon | 48 | #76 | #219 |
| South Carolina | 66 | #77 | #202 |
| Vermont | 7 | #78 | — |
| Kentucky | 63 | #79 | #154 |
| Kansas | 42 | #79 | #351 |
| Utah | 60 | #79 | #284 |
| Maine | 15 | #88 | #176 |
| North Carolina | 134 | #89 | #221 |
| Mississippi | 31 | #91 | #215 |
| Louisiana | 54 | #91 | #195 |
| New Hampshire | 17 | #93 | — |
| Washington | 80 | #96 | #209 |
| Indiana | 78 | #99 | #219 |
| Delaware | 11 | #99 | — |
| Michigan | 91 | #103 | #304 |
| Arizona | 77 | #109 | #356 |
| Ohio | 122 | #110 | #304 |
| Virginia | 77 | #111 | #191 |
| New Mexico | 18 | #112 | #228 |
| South Dakota | 12 | #114 | — |
| Florida | 174 | #125 | #313 |
| Colorado | 56 | #127 | #193 |
| Nevada | 25 | #127 | #241 |
| Pennsylvania | 99 | #129 | #341 |
| Minnesota | 50 | #130 | #297 |
| Nebraska | 20 | #134 | #228 |
| California | 285 | #139 | #264 |
| Illinois | 80 | #149 | #322 |
| Texas | 250 | #152 | #261 |
| Maryland | 38 | #156 | #307 |
| New York | 117 | #165 | #436 |
| North Dakota | 8 | #169 | #216 |
| Wisconsin | 36 | #175 | #267 |
| Massachusetts | 38 | #182 | #339 |
| Alaska | 5 | #190 | — |
| New Jersey | 34 | #270 | #615 |
| Connecticut | 12 | #275 | #510 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,401 | #220 | 3,139 | #111 |
| 2024 | 1,442 | #215 | 3,160 | #112 |
| 2023 | 1,587 | #193 | 3,117 | #116 |
| 2022 | 1,930 | #150 | 3,500 | #105 |
| 2021 | 1,886 | #149 | 3,504 | #110 |
| 2020 | 1,562 | #184 | 2,816 | #129 |
| 2019 | 1,441 | #212 | 2,371 | #168 |
| 2018 | 1,333 | #244 | 2,078 | #197 |
| 2017 | 1,181 | #270 | 1,969 | #200 |
| 2016 | 1,132 | #285 | 1,852 | #212 |
| 2015 | 951 | #348 | 1,516 | #244 |
| 2014 | 708 | #453 | 1,243 | #287 |
| 2013 | 488 | #586 | 830 | #371 |
| 2012 | 412 | #683 | 722 | #405 |
| 2011 | 293 | #892 | 645 | #424 |
| 2010 | 262 | #975 | 634 | #434 |
| 2009 | 281 | #951 | 619 | #449 |
| 2008 | 249 | #1,052 | 611 | #454 |
| 2007 | 229 | #1,130 | 464 | #554 |
| 2006 | 181 | #1,298 | 505 | #514 |
| 2005 | 92 | #2,051 | 476 | #517 |
| 2004 | 100 | #1,890 | 420 | #549 |
| 2003 | 72 | #2,341 | 388 | #571 |
| 2002 | 67 | #2,405 | 329 | #611 |
| 2001 | 72 | #2,254 | 323 | #608 |
| 2000 | 51 | #2,849 | 314 | #612 |
| 1999 | 55 | #2,600 | 359 | #559 |
| 1998 | 53 | #2,605 | 435 | #496 |
| 1997 | 45 | #2,764 | 389 | #519 |
| 1996 | 36 | #3,287 | 269 | #632 |
| 1995 | 25 | #4,189 | 278 | #619 |
| 1994 | 12 | #7,494 | 141 | #926 |
| 1993 | 12 | #7,364 | 54 | #1,658 |
| 1992 | 7 | #11,417 | 37 | #2,121 |
| 1991 | 12 | #7,306 | 28 | #2,528 |
| 1990 | 10 | #8,359 | 33 | #2,205 |
| 1989 | — | — | 40 | #1,887 |
| 1988 | 5 | #13,384 | 13 | #3,862 |
| 1987 | — | — | 13 | #3,685 |
| 1986 | — | — | 5 | #7,588 |
| 1982 | — | — | 6 | #6,235 |
| 1981 | — | — | 5 | #7,057 |
| 1975 | — | — | 7 | #4,681 |
| 1974 | — | — | 5 | #5,836 |
| 1972 | — | — | 8 | #3,895 |
| 1971 | — | — | 6 | #4,806 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).