Name Awesome

Rhian

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Maiden, through Rhian

Rhian has been given to 1,015 babies in the U.S. since 1977. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2007, with 59 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 88% girls, 12% boys all-time.

Babies named Rhian, 2024

1 in 371,000

Rhian over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Rhian over time

In 2024, Rhian went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19772024

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Rhian: meaning, origin, and history

Maiden, through Rhian

Welsh, surname transfer and Middle Welsh

What Rhian means

Rhian belongs to the name family reached through Rhian → Rhian. Its meaning is “maiden”.

Origin, language, and formation

Rhian is used in English and Welsh. Its origins include Welsh, surname transfer and Middle Welsh.

Rhian comes through Welsh Rhian.

Rhian is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Ryan and Rhian.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Welsh, Rhian is pronounced /ˈr̥i.an/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 889 girls were recorded with the name Rhian between 1977 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 59 in 2007; its best national rank was #2,850 in 2005.

In the United States, 126 boys were recorded with the name Rhian between 1977 and 2021. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1977; its best national rank was #3,787 in 1977.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Rhian?

Rhian had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 371,000
9 of 3,342,801 births
Among girls only
1 in 180,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
257,451 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Rhian sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2024 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 257,451 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rhian. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rhians were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rhian was born before 2008 — so the typical Rhian is around 17 today.

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
39.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
79.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
889
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 39.5% of all recorded uses (351).

Is Rhian rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 2007 (59)
Years since peak
18
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
27.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,850
2005

Spellings of Rhian

Rhian is not the most common spelling — Ryan is, with 17.9% against Rhian's 0.57%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Rhian is used

Across 1910–2025, Rhian was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 476,953 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Ohio1 in —
  3. 3Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Rhian has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Rhian around the world

Where Rhian ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #4,867
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2016
    #798
    in 2016
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2010
    #430
    in 2010
  • Ireland
    1991–2010
    #910
    in 2010
  • Canada
    1991–2022
    #3,322
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1965–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Rhian by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,850
2005
Peak year
2007
59 that year
First recorded
1977
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
889
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,787
1977
Peak year
1977
10 that year
First recorded
1977
Last recorded
2021
All-time count
126
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Rhian

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

RhileyArianSianRhianaLianRhiaRhilynnIanLylianLyllianKillianShianLydianJulianElianLivianMirianJilianRianRhiannaRhinaAvianOrianRhiya

Sibling names for Rhian

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Rhian

Top names of 2007, Rhian's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2005Girls' names starting with RUncommon Welsh Girl Names