How common is the surname Ripley?

9,314 people in the United States had the surname Ripley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 33,149 Americans. It ranked 3,799th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Ripley?

In the 2010 Census, 90% of people named Ripley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Ripley?

Robert Ripley, American cartoonist (1890–1949), followed by Alexandra Ripley.

Where is the surname Ripley most common?

Wikidata records people named Ripley in the United States and the United Kingdom.

How do you pronounce Ripley?

Ripley is /ˈɹɪpli/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Ripley getting more or less common?

More common. 8,892 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,314 in 2010, up 4.7%.

Is Ripley also a first name?

Yes. Ripley is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Ripley

An English surname, carried by 9,314 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈɹɪpli/ 2 syllables Soundex R140 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Ripley is more common than 97.7% of them.

Origin

English origin

From the Old English folk name for the Anglian tribe, *Hrype + Old English lēah (“woodland clearing”).

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 9,314 people named Ripley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 33,149 Americans. That is up 4.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 8,892.

#3,799

rank among US surnames

9,314

people in 2010

3.2

per 100,000 Americans

+4.7%

change since 2000 (was #3,670)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#3,790	Hennessy	9,338	33,063
#3,791	Rosenbaum	9,333	33,081
#3,792	Stull	9,324	33,113
#3,793	Bolen	9,323	33,117
#3,794	Reno	9,322	33,120
#3,795	McFarlane	9,319	33,131
#3,796	Hulsey	9,317	33,138

Who is named Ripley

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

90% of people named Ripley identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 2.9% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 90%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.1%
Black (not Hispanic) 2.9%
Two or more races 1.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Ripleys

10 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Robert Ripley
American cartoonist (1890–1949)
Alexandra Ripley
American writer (1934-2004)
Sidney Dillon Ripley
American ornithologist and 8th Secretary of the Smithsonian (1913–2001)
William Zebina Ripley
American academic (1867–1941)
Stuart Ripley
Association football player from England (born 1967)
Alice Ripley
American actress, singer-songwriter, born 1963
George Ripley
American social reformer and Unitarian minister (1802–1880)
Arthur Ripley
American screenwriter (1897–1961)
Amanda Ripley
American journalist, born 1974
Steve Ripley
American recording artist, songwriter, studio engineer, guitarist, and inventor (1950–2019

Notable Ripleys come mostly from the United States (9) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Ripley

Ripley has the Soundex code R140, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R140.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Ripley come from?: From the Old English folk name for the Anglian tribe, *Hrype + Old English lēah (“woodland clearing”).
How common is the surname Ripley?: 9,314 people in the United States had the surname Ripley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 33,149 Americans. It ranked 3,799th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Ripley?: In the 2010 Census, 90% of people named Ripley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Ripley?: Robert Ripley, American cartoonist (1890–1949), followed by Alexandra Ripley.
Where is the surname Ripley most common?: Wikidata records people named Ripley in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Ripley?: Ripley is /ˈɹɪpli/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Ripley getting more or less common?: More common. 8,892 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,314 in 2010, up 4.7%.
Is Ripley also a first name?: Yes. Ripley is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.