Riley

plural Rileys · alternative Rileigh · alternative Rylee · alternative Ryleigh · alternative Rylie · alternative Ryley

1. countableA surname.

   Ibarra also deprived Riley of oxygen long enough to cause wounds and “intended to kill her,” Ross said.

   2024 November 20, Eric Levenson, Rebekah Riess and Holly Yan, “November 20, 2024 - Judge sentences Laken Riley’s murderer to life in prison”, in CNN

   1. countableuncountableA surname from Irish of Irish origin, a variant of Reilly.
   2. countableuncountableAn English habitational surname from Old English, from Ryley in Lancashire (see Etymology above).
2. A unisex given name.
   1. countableuncountableA male given name transferred from the surname, of 19th century and later usage.

      1 more example

      Riley Barnes, nominated to serve as assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor, revealed his dangerous proclivities to Kaine in his opening statement when he said that “all men are created equal because our rights come from God, our creator; not from our laws, not from our governments.”

      2025 September 6, Jonathan Turley, “Tim Kaine’s Constitutional blasphemy”, in The Hill

   2. countableuncountableA female given name from surname, of 1990s and later usage.

      Jason and Molly Mesnick, who met on "The Bachelor" in 2009 and wed in a televised special in 2010, welcomed a daughter, Riley Anne, on Thursday, People magazine reports.

      2013 March 15, Gael Fashingbauer COOPER, “Report: 'Bachelor' couple welcomes baby girl Riley”, in Today.com

      1 more example

      Near the end of Sasquatch Sunset, the gloriously weird feature from David and Nathan Zellner, Riley Keough wordlessly conveys a slowly creeping moment of profound existential despair that crushes your heart with its bleakness.

      2024 June 16, Wendy Ide, “Sasquatch Sunset review – brilliant bigfoot oddity is unexpectedly moving”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

3. A placename
   1. countableuncountableA town in Riley Township, Vigo County, Indiana, United States.
   2. countableuncountableA town in Center Township, Hancock County, Indiana, United States.
   3. countableuncountableA number of townships in the United States, listed under Riley Township.
   4. countableuncountableA crater in Niobe Planitia, Venus.
   5. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of Riley County.
   6. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of Riley Creek.
4. countableuncountableA manufacturer of British motorcars (1907-1969) named after William Riley Jr.