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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

Riley.

A surname.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈɹaɪ.li/

  1. A surname.

    countable

  2. A surname. A surname from Irish of Irish origin, a variant of Reilly.

    countable · uncountable

  3. A surname. An English habitational surname from Old English, from Ryley in Lancashire (see Etymology above).

    countable · uncountable

  4. A unisex given name. A male given name transferred from the surname, of 19th century and later usage.

    countable · uncountable

  5. A unisex given name. A female given name from surname, of 1990s and later usage.

    countable · uncountable

  6. A placename A town in Riley Township, Vigo County, Indiana, United States.

    countable · uncountable

  7. A placename A town in Center Township, Hancock County, Indiana, United States.

    countable · uncountable

  8. A placename A number of townships in the United States, listed under Riley Township.

    countable · uncountable

  9. A placename A crater in Niobe Planitia, Venus.

    countable · uncountable

  10. A placename Ellipsis of Riley County.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable

  11. A placename Ellipsis of Riley Creek.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable

  12. A manufacturer of British motorcars (1907-1969) named after William Riley Jr.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

* From Ryley in Lancashire, from Old English ryge (“rye”) + leah (“clearing, meadow”). Equivalent to rye + -ley (“lea”). * A variant of Reilly, from Irish Ó Raghallaigh (see O'Reilly).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.