DearWho
DE
DearWho

Riley

Riley is a unisex given name: about 48% of people named Riley are men and 52% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.

UnisexHigh
Male 48%Female 52%

This name is used for both men and women without a strong lean either way.

Verdict
Unisex
Male / female split
48% male / 52% female
Confidence
High (64 or more weighted country observations)
Most common in
United States, Great Britain
US births since 1880
92,789 male / 100,881 female
Data
nam_dict (GFDL) + US SSA
Updated
2026-09-11

How to address Riley

To address Riley when you do not know their gender, use the full name with no title: "Dear Riley," in English, "Guten Tag Riley," in German. About 48% of people named Riley are men and 52% are women, so a gendered salutation is close to a coin flip, and the neutral form above is the safer choice.

Ready-made greetings in six languages

English

Dear Riley,

German

Guten Tag Riley,

French

Bonjour Riley,

Spanish

Estimado/a Riley:

Chinese

Riley您好：

Japanese

Riley様

English

Hi Riley,

German

Hi Riley,

French

Salut Riley,

Spanish

Hola Riley,

Chinese

Riley你好：

Japanese

Rileyさん

Greeting generator

This is a statistical estimate, not a statement about the gender, identity or correct form of address of any particular person.

Country breakdown

Gender of the name Riley by country (nam_dict, 55 country columns)
CountryHow commonUsuallyMale share
United Statesvery commonman's name48%
Great Britainrareman's name75%

United States birth data

92,789 male · 100,881 female · 193,670 births recorded

Male 48%Female 52%

Since 1980: 45% male.

Frequently asked questions

Is Riley a male or female name?

Riley is a unisex given name: about 48% of people named Riley are men and 52% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.

How do I address Riley in an email?

To address Riley when you do not know their gender, use the full name with no title: "Dear Riley," in English, "Guten Tag Riley," in German. About 48% of people named Riley are men and 52% are women, so a gendered salutation is close to a coin flip, and the neutral form above is the safer choice.

Is Riley a unisex name?

Riley is a unisex name: 48% of people named Riley are men. The split stays close across most of the countries in the data.

Related names

MariaFemaleAnnaFemaleMarieFemalePeterMaleJeanDepends on the countryAlexanderMaleDavidMaleJoseMale

Sources

Gender by country: nam_dict, the c't first-names dictionary by Joerg Michael, roughly 44,000 names across 55 countries, licensed GFDL. US frequencies: United States Social Security Administration baby-name data, public domain. Method: how we classify names. Full dataset: data & licences. Data built 2026-09-11.

Cite this page

DearWho, "Is Riley a male or female name?", https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/riley (accessed 2026-09-11). Data: nam_dict (J. Michael, GFDL) and US SSA, built 2026-09-11.

BibTeX
@misc{dearwho_riley,
  title  = {Is Riley a male or female name?},
  author = {{DearWho}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/riley},
  note   = {Data: nam_dict (GFDL), US SSA public domain}
}