# Royal (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/royal/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys and girls |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “rye”, “hill”, “roe” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 24,394 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 20,072 / 4,322 (18% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 139, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

A habitational surname, shaped by folk etymology, from places in England, Riehale, Righale, Ryhill and Ryall, Old English ryge (“rye”) + hyll (“hill”), and Royle, rā (“roe”) + hyll (“hill”).

## What it means

Royal is grouped under mountain.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 35 | 4,227 |
| 2012 | 32 | 4,581 |
| 2013 | 59 | 2,896 |
| 2014 | 255 | 1,024 |
| 2015 | 380 | 742 |
| 2016 | 477 | 629 |
| 2017 | 418 | 697 |
| 2018 | 341 | 800 |
| 2019 | 351 | 790 |
| 2020 | 352 | 774 |
| 2021 | 329 | 840 |
| 2022 | 322 | 864 |
| 2023 | 259 | 988 |
| 2024 | 194 | 1,219 |
| 2025 | 125 | 1,663 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 148 | 1,196 |
| 2012 | 194 | 1,016 |
| 2013 | 235 | 888 |
| 2014 | 489 | 570 |
| 2015 | 648 | 467 |
| 2016 | 662 | 461 |
| 2017 | 577 | 504 |
| 2018 | 610 | 482 |
| 2019 | 653 | 459 |
| 2020 | 740 | 405 |
| 2021 | 888 | 369 |
| 2022 | 880 | 369 |
| 2023 | 795 | 401 |
| 2024 | 745 | 424 |
| 2025 | 640 | 476 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 3 | 5,785 |
| 2018 | 7 | 3,178 |
| 2020 | 3 | 5,493 |
| 2021 | 4 | 4,634 |
| 2022 | 5 | 3,970 |
| 2023 | 3 | 5,687 |
| 2024 | 8 | 3,015 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 3 | 4,685 |
| 2014 | 6 | 2,964 |
| 2015 | 4 | 3,908 |
| 2016 | 9 | 2,335 |
| 2017 | 8 | 2,512 |
| 2018 | 6 | 3,011 |
| 2019 | 9 | 2,266 |
| 2020 | 10 | 2,076 |
| 2021 | 8 | 2,493 |
| 2022 | 9 | 2,320 |
| 2023 | 10 | 2,160 |
| 2024 | 12 | 1,951 |
| 2025 | 12 | 2,014 |

## People named Royal

- Royal Dano, American actor (1922-1994)
- Royal Rife, American inventor (1888–1971)
- Royal Harwood Frost, American astronomer (1879-1950)
- Royal Ivey, American basketball player (born 1981)
- Royal Robbins, American rock climber (1935-2017)
- Royal S. Copeland, American politician (1868–1938)
- Royal C. Johnson, American politician (1882-1939)
- Royal Galipeau, Canadian politician (1947–2018)
- Hutch Dano, American actor

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.