Ryan (given name)

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Ryan
Given Name
Gender Male
Origin Ireland
Wikipedia articles All pages beginning with Ryan
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Contents

Ryan is a masculine given name meaning "little king". In rare cases, "Ryan" can appear as a feminine given name (e.g. Ryan Conner, Ryan Michelle Bathe).[1] The name originated in Ireland, presumably from the Ryan surname.[citation needed]

[edit] Popularity

Ireland

For Ireland, information is available for 2005 and 2006, which shows a popularity rank of 12th and 14th, respectively, for use of "Ryan" as a male given name for newborn children.[2]

United Kingdom

In Scotland of the 1990's, "Ryan" was the most popular forename of the decade; this popularity is recent, as "Ryan" apparently was not in use in 1900, ranked between 100 and 250 in 1950, and appears at rank 64 in 1975.[3] In Northern Ireland, "Ryan" appeared among the top-five most commonly selected male names for newborns in 2000–2003, but did not appear among the top-ten in 1975.[4] In England and Wales, data for 2003–2007 is available, which suggest somewhat less popularity of "Ryan" than in other parts of the UK, having a rank of 21 in 2003 and 2004 then dropping to 25 in 2005–2007.[5]

United States

"Ryan" as a male given name has persisted in popularity for the thirty-year period of 1976–2006 in the 10th to 20th rank; the name appeared in the top-thousand for the first time in 1946 and gained steadily in popularity until leveling off in the 1970's.[6] The popularity of "Ryan" as a female given name is an order of magnitude less than that as a male name; the name first appeared in the top-thousand in 1974 and has remained there since, fluctuating widely from year to year but never breaching the rank of 300.[1]

[edit] Instances of use

Following is a short annotated list of persons, real and fictional, sharing "Ryan" as a given name, representative of the breadth in geography and time of the name's use.

[edit] 20th Century people

[edit] Pseudonyms and stage names

[edit] Fictional characters

  • American television: Ryan Atwood (2003–2007), an American teenager
  • American television: Ryan Howard, The Office
  • American television: Ryan O'Reily (1997–2003), an Irish-American gangster
  • Australian television: Ryan Baker (debut 2005)
  • British television: Ryan Connor (debut 2006)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Popular baby names. Social Security Administration (2007-05-11). Retrieved on 2008-02-16. “(Query in "Popularity of a name" section: Ryan - female - 100 years)”
  2. ^ Top 25 Baby Names. Births, Deaths and Marriages. Central Statistics Office (Ireland) (2008-01-28). Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  3. ^ Popular Forenames in Scotland 1900-2000. Occasional papers. General Register Office for Scotland (2001-01-04). Retrieved on 2008-02-16. “Ryan was the most popular name for boys for five years, 1994 - 1998. (see also Table 5)”
  4. ^ Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (2004-01-02). "Jack and Emma were the most popular first names in Northern Ireland in 2003" (PDF). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-14. “(Consult tables "Comparison with 1975" and "Top 20 Names 2000-2003", the latter showing ranks of 5, 3, 4, 3 for 2003, 2002, 2001 and 2000, respectively)”
  5. ^ Top 100 names for baby boys in England and Wales. National Statistics Online. Office for National Statistics (2007-12-19). Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  6. ^ Popular baby names. Social Security Administration (2007-05-11). Retrieved on 2008-02-16. “(Query in "Popularity of a name" section: Ryan - male - 100 years)”
WP Anthroponymy notice This page or section lists people with the given name Ryan. If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the surname to that link.