Rory

Rory: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning: “red king”
Origin: Irish
Say it: ROR-ee · 2 syllables
Used for: Both (26% girls, 74% boys since 1880)

From Irish Ruaidhrí, from ruadh 'red' and rí 'king'. Also used in Scotland through Gaelic tradition.

Irish names Scottish names Names meaning royalty Classic names International names Short names

How popular is Rory?

2024810 per million US babies

Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Compare with another name

Babies named Rory in 20242,696

2024 rank#226 boys

Peak year2024

Total US babies since 188046,310

Rory is rising: use over the last five years is 3.0× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Rory

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

Rorired king · Irish
Rileyvaliant · Irish
Rowanlittle red-haired one · Irish
Quinndescendant of Conn · Irish
Lennonlover · Irish
Caseyvigilant · Irish
Murphysea warrior · Irish
Rowenlittle red one · Irish

Rory questions

What does the name Rory mean?

Rory means "red king". It comes from Irish. From Irish Ruaidhrí, from ruadh 'red' and rí 'king'. Also used in Scotland through Gaelic tradition.

Is Rory a boy or girl name?

Rory is used for both: about 26% of US babies named Rory since 1880 were girls.

How popular is Rory?

2,696 US babies were named Rory in 2024. Its peak year was 2024.

How do you pronounce Rory?

Rory is usually pronounced ROR-ee.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.