Ashley
Ashley was given to 1,829 girls in 2025, #164 among girls’ names; 875,722 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 852,000 Americans named Ashley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 28 and 40.
Ashley is the #10 most common first name among living American women and girls, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ashley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ashley mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ashley is “a female given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “ash tree” (æsċ) and “wood, clearing” (lēah).
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
From Old English *Æsċlēah, composed of æsċ (“ash tree”) + lēah (“wood, clearing”). Equivalent to Ash + -ley.
/ˈæʃli/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ashley?
#164 among girls’ names, 2025
Ashley fell from #86 in 2015 to #164 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 1.9 to 1.1 per 1,000.
55,265 babies in 1987, the peak
Ashley peaked in 1987, when 55,265 babies were given it (54,856 girls, #2 among girls’ names). The 1,856 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 3% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,829 | #164 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 2,240 | #124 | 1.4 |
| 2023 | 2,184 | #126 | 1.4 |
| 2022 | 1,865 | #154 | 1.1 |
| 2021 | 1,700 | #172 | 1.0 |
| 2020 | 1,808 | #153 | 1.1 |
| 2019 | 2,031 | #137 | 1.2 |
| 2018 | 2,280 | #130 | 1.3 |
| 2017 | 2,528 | #122 | 1.5 |
| 2016 | 3,045 | #101 | 1.7 |
Every recorded year (87)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 3,429 | #86 | 1.9 |
| 2014 | 3,560 | #87 | 2.0 |
| 2013 | 3,943 | #67 | 2.2 |
| 2012 | 4,701 | #50 | 2.7 |
| 2011 | 5,403 | #42 | 3.1 |
| 2010 | 6,317 | #29 | 3.6 |
| 2009 | 7,815 | #20 | 4.3 |
| 2008 | 9,408 | #18 | 5.0 |
| 2007 | 11,428 | #13 | 5.9 |
| 2006 | 12,353 | #12 | 6.5 |
| 2005 | 13,276 | #10 | 7.2 |
| 2004 | 14,377 | #8 | 7.8 |
| 2003 | 14,519 | #8 | 7.9 |
| 2002 | 15,344 | #6 | 8.5 |
| 2001 | 16,531 | #4 | 9.2 |
| 2000 | 18,000 | #4 | 9.9 |
| 1999 | 18,136 | #6 | 10.2 |
| 1998 | 19,875 | #5 | 11.2 |
| 1997 | 20,897 | #3 | 12.0 |
| 1996 | 23,678 | #3 | 13.5 |
| 1995 | 26,606 | #2 | 15.1 |
| 1994 | 30,281 | #2 | 17.0 |
| 1993 | 34,849 | #2 | 19.3 |
| 1992 | 38,460 | #1 | 20.9 |
| 1991 | 43,477 | #1 | 23.2 |
| 1990 | 45,561 | #2 | 24.0 |
| 1989 | 47,588 | #2 | 25.8 |
| 1988 | 49,977 | #2 | 28.1 |
| 1987 | 54,856 | #2 | 31.6 |
| 1986 | 49,671 | #2 | 29.0 |
| 1985 | 47,010 | #2 | 27.3 |
| 1984 | 38,773 | #3 | 23.0 |
| 1983 | 33,289 | #4 | 19.9 |
| 1982 | 14,851 | #17 | 8.8 |
| 1981 | 8,874 | #34 | 5.3 |
| 1980 | 7,296 | #40 | 4.4 |
| 1979 | 4,448 | #67 | 2.8 |
| 1978 | 3,482 | #87 | 2.3 |
| 1977 | 2,707 | #106 | 1.8 |
| 1976 | 2,287 | #115 | 1.6 |
| 1975 | 1,989 | #138 | 1.4 |
| 1974 | 1,625 | #165 | 1.1 |
| 1973 | 1,250 | #206 | 0.86 |
| 1972 | 1,176 | #234 | 0.77 |
| 1971 | 1,162 | #255 | 0.70 |
| 1970 | 927 | #305 | 0.53 |
| 1969 | 641 | #361 | 0.38 |
| 1968 | 542 | #399 | 0.33 |
| 1967 | 385 | #485 | 0.23 |
| 1966 | 262 | #583 | 0.15 |
| 1965 | 216 | #669 | 0.12 |
| 1964 | 181 | #771 | 0.10 |
| 1963 | 108 | #1,027 | 0.06 |
| 1962 | 95 | #1,114 | 0.05 |
| 1961 | 81 | #1,223 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 55 | #1,487 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 37 | #1,821 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 38 | #1,762 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 27 | #2,122 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 23 | #2,322 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 8 | #4,392 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 21 | #2,381 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 14 | #2,930 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 23 | #2,128 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,699 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 15 | #2,659 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 11 | #3,190 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 13 | #2,840 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 11 | #3,257 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 7 | #4,014 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 10 | #2,926 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 10 | #2,956 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 10 | #3,050 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 8 | #3,463 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 6 | #3,986 | under 0.01 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,470 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,648 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Ashley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 875,722 Americans recorded as Ashley, 98% are girls and 2% boys. Girls have outnumbered boys among babies named Ashley every year since 1964. In 2025 it went to 1,829 girls and 27 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Ashley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ashley, and how old are they?
852,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 875,722 Americans ever recorded as Ashley. The median Ashley alive today is 35 years old; half are between 28 and 40.
The 2020 Census counted 752,330 people named Ashley (741,112 women and girls, 11,218 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 846,602 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 189 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,660 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 33,800 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 577,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 207,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 32,600 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ashley born?
The states with the most babies named Ashley are Texas, Florida and California, with 43% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 307 | #86 | 1.1× |
| Florida | 284 | #47 | 1.2× |
| California | 186 | #172 | 0.8× |
| New York | 92 | #176 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 58 | #171 | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 55 | #190 | 1.2× |
| North Carolina | 55 | #196 | 1.2× |
| Virginia | 54 | #141 | 1.1× |
| Maryland | 54 | #69 | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 53 | #148 | 0.9× |
Where Ashley is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ashley is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 1.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ashley with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 989,303 babies since 1880, Ashley is the most given (89% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,856 of their 2,107 babies (88%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ashley
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ashley and names like it
- Compare Ashley and AshleeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sAshley peaked in 1987.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ashley since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Ashley: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1987The year the most babies were named Ashley.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Ashley alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with AMost given first.