Rick
Rick was the 3077th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 40 babies. Its best year was 1958, when it ranked 77th with 5,461 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 1,236 places. More babies were named Rick in the 1950s than in any other decade.
Meaning short form of Richard; "strong ruler" · Germanic, English
Say it RIK /rɪk/
- Rank in 2025
- #3,077 boys, down 619 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 40boys
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a boy’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 19585,461 babies
- Total since 1880
- 81,964babies recorded
What does the name Rick mean?
Rick is a short form of Richard and also of other names ending in -rick, such as Frederick and Patrick. Richard is a Germanic name made of rīc, "ruler, power", and hard, "hard, strong, brave", so it means roughly "strong ruler". DMNES records many medieval saints and kings named Richard, including three kings of England, and notes medieval English pet forms such as Dick and Hick; Rick and Ricky are more recent.
rīh (Old High German, “ruler”)hart (Old High German, “strong, hard”)
How sure is this? Well established.
Related names: Richard, Ricky, Rich, Dick, Ricardo, Frederick.
See also: Germanic names, names that mean strength, names that mean king or queen.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Rick', Wiktionary (Wikimedia Foundation)
- Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, ed. S. L. Uckelman, Edition 2023 no. 1, s.v. 'Richard', DMNES (Durham University)
- Wikipedia, 'Rick (given name)', Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation)
Nicknames for Rick
The usual nicknames for Rick are Ricky. Some parents skip the long form: for every 100 boys named Rick in the last five years, 664 were named Ricky, against 578 twenty years earlier.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Boys, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ricky · also for Richard, Eric, Ricardo | Traditional | #949 | 1,435 |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are boys given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Ricks go by each one.
Rick popularity since 1880
A few girls are given the name too: 135 since 1947.
| Year | Rank (boys) | Babies (boys) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #3,077 | 40 |
| 2020 | #2,458 | 53 |
| 2010 | #1,513 | 108 |
| 2000 | #928 | 165 |
| 1990 | #510 | 377 |
| 1980 | #390 | 442 |
| 1970 | #211 | 1,184 |
| 1960 | #101 | 4,217 |
| 1950 | #168 | 1,484 |
| 1940 | #857 | 55 |
| 1930 | #1,686 | 20 |
| 1920 | — | — |
| 1910 | — | — |
| 1900 | — | — |
| 1890 | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — |
How popular is Rick, counting every spelling?
Rick is the most common spelling of a name family that had 40 boys in 2025 across its spellings. Together these spellings went to 40 boys in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rick | 40 | #3,077 | 216 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Rick?
40 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Rick (0.01 per 1,000 births). For a boy named Rick born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 210 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Rick.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Rick?
About 61,000 people born in the US named Rick are alive today, with a median age of 65; half are between 57 and 70. That makes Rick a name most people associate with older generations.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Rick by state
How common Rick was among boys born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in California (2.0×). In 47 states fewer than five boys a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Rick: their share of US boys followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Rick, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Rick · Sibling names for Rick
Rick is also a nickname for Richard, Eric, Derek, Ricardo, Frederick and Roderick.
Questions about the name Rick
What does Rick mean?
Rick means “short form of Richard; "strong ruler"” (Germanic, English origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Rick?
Rick was the 3077th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 40 babies. Its best year was 1958, when it ranked 77th with 5,461 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 1,236 places. More babies were named Rick in the 1950s than in any other decade.
Is Rick a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a boy’s name given the name Rick in the US.
Where is Rick most popular?
In 2021–2025, Rick was most common in California (0.05 per 1,000 boys), followed by Florida and Georgia.