About Rylee
Rylee is a modern spelling of Riley, a name with both English and Irish surname roots. The English route means rye clearing; the Irish route belongs to the Reilly family. It is pronounced RYE-lee and used for both sexes, although recent American use is predominantly feminine. Dancer Rylee Arnold and voice actor Rylee Alazraqui provide contemporary namesakes.
Two surname routes
English Riley comes from a place name built around rye and a clearing. Irish Riley is instead a variant of Reilly, the English form of Ó Raghailligh. These surnames arrived at a shared spelling through different histories.
Rylee belongs to the modern first-name family that developed from Riley. Its final ee makes the ending especially explicit, while Ryleigh, Rylie, and Ryley offer other spellings. The changes in spelling do not select one surname origin over the other.
The name has two syllables, stress on the first, and the long i sound of rye or sky. Ry is an established short form. Riley and Rylee normally sound identical in English.
Rylee Arnold and dance
Rylee Arnold is a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars. She joined the professional cast for season 32 in 2023, partnering with media personality Harry Jowsey. Her earlier television experience included Dancing with the Stars: Juniors in 2018, with Miles Brown and her sister Lindsay Arnold.
The two appearances placed her first within the junior competition and later among the professionals guiding adult celebrity partners. Her public first name kept the same distinctive ee spelling across those stages of her dance career.
Rylee Alazraqui and animation
Rylee Alazraqui voices Rok-Tahk in Star Trek: Prodigy. The character is a Brikar, an eight-year-old girl whose imposing appearance contrasts with her shyness and affection for animals.
Prodigy centers on a young alien starship crew, bringing the long-running Star Trek world into an animated series for younger viewers. Alazraqui's casting was announced in 2021, alongside performers voicing the other young crew members.
The 2022 episode Time Amok gives Rok-Tahk a particularly important role. A time anomaly separates the crew into different time phases as their ship approaches a warp-core failure. Her extended isolation becomes an opportunity to learn the skills needed to help save the ship.
American popularity
Rylee ranked #290 for United States girls in 2000 and #102 in 2010. Its strongest ranking was #97 in 2021, while its largest annual count was 2,984 in 2010. In 2025 it ranked #137, with 2,118 girls.
Male use was smaller: 84 boys received Rylee in 2025, compared with a peak of 314 in 2010. The female and male records developed together, with a much larger recent female presence.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Origins and cultural connections draw on the references below. American figures use the local SSA series for the exact spelling and sex, omitting counts below five. Existing Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA. Suggested shortenings are identified in the text.
- Wiktionary: Rylee (English)
- Wiktionary: Riley
- U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations
- Wikidata: Rylee Goodrich
- Wikidata: Rylee Traicoff
- Wikidata: Rylee Baisden
- ABC: Rylee Arnold
- Star Trek: Prodigy cast
- Rylee Arnold: career chronology
- Star Trek: Time Amok
Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
How popular is Rylee?
In 2025, Rylee ranked #137 among girls in the United States, with 2,118 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1980; its largest annual count was 2,984 in 2010. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.