Ashley

Where Ashley comes from

From Old English *Æsċlēah, composed of æsċ (“ash tree”) + lēah (“wood, clearing”). Equivalent to Ash + -ley.
— Wiktionary's entry for Ashley
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Ashley through the years
  1. 1917
    First appearance
    #4,594 among girls with 5 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1964
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name. From this year on, more girls have.
  3. 1980
    Ashley Cole born
    English association football player
  4. 1985
    Ashley Tisdale born
    American actress and singer-songwriter
  5. 1991
    Peak, #1
    43,477 babies named Ashley, its best rank.
  6. 1997
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #3.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
  • A female given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Ashley Tisdale · American actress and singer-songwriter, born 1985
  • Ashley Cole · English association football player, born 1980
  • Ashley Young · English association football player, born 1985
  • Ashley Judd · American actress, born 1968
  • Ashley Greene · American actress, born 1987

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.