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
Hadley through the years
  1. 1891
    Hadley Richardson born
    first wife of author Ernest Hemingway
  2. 1964
    First appearance
    #5,474 among girls with 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 on, more girls have.
  4. 1980
    Hadley Fraser born
    British actor
  5. 2014
    Peak, #100
    3,015 babies named Hadley, the most in any year.
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.