Hadley

Where Hadley comes from

From Old English hǣþ (“heath”) + Old English leah (“woodland clearing”). Equivalent to heath (compare Heath) + -ley.
— Wiktionary's entry for Hadley
  • From a surname
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1891
    Hadley Richardson born
    first wife of author Ernest Hemingway
  2. 1964
    First appearance
    #5,474 among girls, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1969
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
  4. 1980
    Hadley Fraser born
    British actor
  5. 2014
    Peak, #100
    3,015 babies named Hadley — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Hadley Richardson · first wife of author Ernest Hemingway, 1891–1979
  • Hadley Fraser · British actor, born 1980
  • Hadley Freeman · American-British journalist, born 1978
  • Hadley Caliman · American saxophonist, 1932–2010
  • Hadley Robinson · American actress, born 1995

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.