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Rigel

#5,157 in 2025Boys' name

Foot, leg

Rigel has been given to 642 babies in the U.S. since 1976. In 2025 it ranked #5,157 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 34 recorded.

Babies named Rigel, 2025

1 in 174,000

Rigel over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rigel: meaning, origin, and history

Foot, leg

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Rigel means

Rigel means “foot, leg”, associated with rijl.

Origin, language, and formation

Rigel is used in Cebuano.

Rigel comes through English Rigel and Arabic رِجْل.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 632 boys were recorded with the name Rigel between 1976 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 34 in 2016; its best national rank was #3,348 in 2016.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #5,406 in 2020 to #5,157 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #3,964 in 2015 to #5,157 in 2025.

In the United States, 10 girls were recorded with the name Rigel between 1980 and 2015. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1980; its best national rank was #11,697 in 1980.

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 Rigel?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 174,000
19 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 89,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,157
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
120,943 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Rigel sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 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 120,943 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rigel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rigels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rigel was born before 2011 — so the typical Rigel is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
33.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
70.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
632
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 33.9% of all recorded uses (214).

Is Rigel 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
+963
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+249
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,193
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.70×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
55.9%
Peak was 2016 (34)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
27.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,348
2016

Spellings of Rigel

Rigel is not the most common spelling — Roger is, with 38.0% against Rigel's 0.05%.

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 Rigel is used

Across 1910–2025, Rigel was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 767,404 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Rigel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Rigel around the world

Where Rigel 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.

  • Canada
    2016–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2009–2009
    #708
    in 2009

Popularity data from Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Rigel by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,157
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 249
Best rank ever
#3,348
2016
Peak year
2016
34 that year
First recorded
1976
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
632
Count in 2025
19

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#11,697
1980
Peak year
1980
5 that year
First recorded
1980
Last recorded
2015
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Rigel

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

RigbyRigginRiggsRigoRigdonRigginsRigleyMigelNygelRigdenRiggenEngelRighteousJoangelVirgelJoeangelArgelEdgelNigelRigvedArcangelRigsbyRangelJoseangel

Sibling names for Rigel

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 Rigel

Top names of 2016, Rigel's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2016Boys' names starting with RStar & Constellation Names