River - Meaning of River

What does River mean?

Pronounce
River

[ 2 syll. ri-ver, riv-er ] The baby boy name River is pronounced RIYV-er- †. River's origin, as well as its use, is in the English language. Its meaning is derived literally from the vocabulary word river. The name was popularized by the fame of the late US actor River Phoenix (1970-1993) at the end of the 20th century.

Variation transcriptions of River include Riv, Rivar, Rive, Rivers, Riviera, Rivor, Ryver, and Ryvers.

See also the related categories, english and actor.

River is popular as a baby boy name, and it is also regarded as trendy. The name's popularity has been rising since the 1990s; before that, it was of only very light use. At the modest peak of its usage in 2018, 0.106% of baby boys were named River. It had a ranking of #197 then. Out of all boy names in its family, River was the most frequently used in 2018. River has mainly been a boy name, although in the last century it has also been used for girls. There were 59% more boys than girls who were named River in 2017.

Baby names that sound like River include Ryver, Rafer, Raffer, Rapere, Rivar, Rivor, Rober, Robert, Roper, Rovar, Rover, Rovere, Rovir, Rovor, Rovyr, Rapier, Rovur, Rufaro, and Ruffaro.

† Pronunciation for River: R as in "race (R.EY.S)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; V as in "vow (V.AW)" ; ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)"

A famous person named River is Actor, River Phoenix, born River Jude Bottom 23 August 1970 - 31 October 1993, Madras, Oregon.