The Rife surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 6,620 people carried this name — #5,268 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 44,600 people counted. That is up 3% from 6,400 in 2000.

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In Argentina’s national register

At least 54 people named Rife live in Argentina.

RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

Buenos Aires Province 29
City of Buenos Aires 15
Córdoba 10

RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

17 families named Rife, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 107 people lived in those households, 6.3 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 2 other spellings. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Pennsylvania 9
Maryland 3
Virginia 3
North Carolina 1
South Carolina 1

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 259 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Rife in American newspapers,
1897.

Newspaper page from The Pacific Commercial Advertiser carrying the name Rife
The Pacific Commercial Advertiser 1897-05-12
Newspaper page from The Hawaiian Gazette carrying the name Rife
The Hawaiian Gazette 1897-05-04

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 228,226 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Rife in Australian newspapers,
1850s–1970s.

475 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Rife. The most, 93, date from the 1910s.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 142
Victoria 126
Queensland 94
South Australia 59
Tasmania 25
Western Australia 22
ACT (Canberra) 3
Northern Territory 1

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Rife.

Who carried it

People named Rife,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Royal Rife 1888–1971 · scientist

Wikidata (CC0) · 5 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Rife,
in the records of 2 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States348 records

348 records of the Rife name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 223
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 64
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 26
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 23
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 6
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 5
  • Sacramento County historic burials 1
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Theodore Rife

    Born 1908 in Colorado. Enlisted 1942 at Sacramento, California; driver from Butte County, California. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1997, buried at Chico Cemetery, California.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Jeanett Rife

    Arrived at New York in 1856 aboard the Isaac Wright from Liverpool, aged 17; servant. From Scotland.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)
  3. A U.S. Army record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864
    Example: U.S. burial record, 1864
    Burial record Frances O. Rife

    U.S. Air Force veteran of the Korean War. Born 1935, died 2001; buried at Rife Cemetery, Gallipolis, Ohio.

    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)

Showing 3 of 348 records for Rife in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864, U.S. National Archives (public domain).

Canada1 record

1 record of the Rife name in Canada City of Calgary cemetery records
  1. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Ralph Gust Rife

    Buried in 1979 at Union Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta.

    City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary.

Counts: City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Rife.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Rife is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See the Rife volume
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