Harley

Where Harley comes from

From Old English hær (“rock”) or hara (“hare”) + lēah (“wood, clearing”). Equivalent to hare + -ley (“lea”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Harley
  • From a surname
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #180 among boys — 70 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1887
    Peak, #163
    77 babies named Harley — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1943
    Harley Race born
    American professional wrestler, promoter and trainer
  4. 1957
    Harley Jane Kozak born
    American actress and writer
  5. 1994
    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.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Harley Jane Kozak · American actress and writer, born 1957
  • Harley Race · American professional wrestler, promoter and trainer, 1943–2019
  • Harley Quinn Smith · American actress and musician, born 1999
  • Harley Earl · American designer, 1893–1969
  • Harley Granville-Barker · British actor and playwright, 1877–1946

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.