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Hmm. I don't know, but Dunkling's name dictionary that I have says Riley was used as a first name since the 1840's but never Reilly (although this dictionary's from 1983 so that's no longer true). It also says that Riley is from an Irish surname meaning 'valiant', and that surname Reilly is just a spelling variant.

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Since BtN lists Riley / Ryley / Ryeley etc as an English surname with a particular meaning, there must be a source that says that's what it is; and Reilly is probably a different, Irish name (as in O'Reilly). But I'm just guessing.

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- chazda

This message was edited 10/30/2004, 7:20 PM