Etymology

Proper noun

1. common in Ireland.
2. derived from the surname, popular in all English-speaking countries from the 1970s to the 1990s.
3. in quiet use since the 1970s, from the surname, or a variant of Rhian. Spelling variant: Ryann.

Quotations

• 1989 Garrison Keillor: We Are Still Married: Lonely Boy. ISBN 0-14-013156-6 page 308:

  "By the way, I forgot your name," she said. I bit off half a burger and chewed it slowly, thinking fast. I didn't think she'd be impressed with the name Wiscnek so I gave her a name I made up when I was little, Ryan Tremaine, a name I used when I played detective. She said, "That's such a beautiful name."

• 1999 D.W.Buffa: The Defense: ISBN 1864489073 page 109:

  He never shortened my first name because he never used it. It was part of his perpetual rebellion against West Coast informality. The barber who cut his hair still thought his first name was Ryan because that was the only name he had given the first time he called for an appointment.