Wesley

Where Wesley comes from

Several places in England, from Old English west (“west”) + lēah (“wood, clearing”). Equivalent to west + -ley (“lea”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Wesley
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Wesley through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #109 among boys, with 123 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1962
    Wesley Snipes born
    American actor
  3. 1984
    Wesley Sneijder born
    Dutch association football player
  4. 2025
    Peak, #52
    5,578 babies named Wesley, the most in any year.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname, of 18th century and later usage, today often without any religious connotations.
Namesakes
  • Wesley Sneijder · Dutch association football player, born 1984
  • Wesley Snipes · American actor, born 1962
  • Wesley Clark · United States Army general and 2004 Democratic Party presidential candidate, born 1944
  • Wesley Fofana · French footballer, born 2000
  • Wesley So · Filipino-American chess player, born 1993

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.