Farley
Farley was last recorded in 2024, when 17 babies were given it; 1,097 Americans have been recorded with it between 1884 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Farley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Farley mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Farley is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “fern” (fearn) and “woodland” (lēah).
From Old English fearn (“fern”) + lēah (“woodland”). Equivalent to fern + -ley (“lea”) and doublet of Farnley.
/ˈfɑɹli/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Farley?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #7,939, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
39 babies in 1952, the peak
Farley peaked in 1952, when 39 boys were given it, #1,185 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 10 | #7,939 | 5.8 |
| 2022 | 6 | #11,301 | 3.4 |
| 2020 | 5 | #12,654 | 2.9 |
| 2011 | 5 | #12,893 | 2.6 |
| 1991 | 6 | #7,569 | 3.0 |
| 1990 | 13 | #4,242 | 6.3 |
| 1989 | 8 | #5,814 | 4.0 |
| 1988 | 6 | #6,676 | 3.1 |
| 1987 | 6 | #6,365 | 3.2 |
| 1986 | 8 | #5,010 | 4.3 |
Every recorded year (81)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 6 | #6,024 | 3.2 |
| 1984 | 9 | #4,312 | 5.0 |
| 1983 | 7 | #5,096 | 3.9 |
| 1982 | 12 | #3,547 | 6.6 |
| 1981 | 6 | #5,735 | 3.3 |
| 1980 | 5 | #6,573 | 2.8 |
| 1979 | 12 | #3,424 | 7.0 |
| 1978 | 8 | #4,281 | 4.9 |
| 1977 | 10 | #3,689 | 6.1 |
| 1976 | 5 | #5,883 | 3.2 |
| 1975 | 8 | #4,062 | 5.1 |
| 1974 | 6 | #4,831 | 3.8 |
| 1973 | 7 | #4,218 | 4.5 |
| 1972 | 11 | #3,023 | 6.8 |
| 1971 | 12 | #2,864 | 6.8 |
| 1970 | 14 | #2,543 | 7.5 |
| 1969 | 12 | #2,587 | 6.7 |
| 1968 | 15 | #2,135 | 8.6 |
| 1967 | 15 | #2,060 | 8.6 |
| 1966 | 13 | #2,263 | 7.3 |
| 1965 | 24 | #1,602 | 12.9 |
| 1964 | 21 | #1,753 | 10.5 |
| 1963 | 18 | #1,919 | 8.9 |
| 1962 | 34 | #1,349 | 16.4 |
| 1961 | 38 | #1,284 | 17.9 |
| 1960 | 29 | #1,494 | 13.6 |
| 1959 | 28 | #1,511 | 13.1 |
| 1958 | 32 | #1,380 | 15.1 |
| 1957 | 33 | #1,371 | 15.3 |
| 1956 | 33 | #1,348 | 15.6 |
| 1955 | 39 | #1,202 | 18.9 |
| 1954 | 30 | #1,390 | 14.7 |
| 1953 | 32 | #1,341 | 16.2 |
| 1952 | 39 | #1,185 | 20.1 |
| 1951 | 30 | #1,354 | 15.9 |
| 1950 | 13 | #2,140 | 7.3 |
| 1949 | 16 | #1,889 | 9.0 |
| 1948 | 8 | #2,857 | 4.6 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,549 | 5.5 |
| 1946 | 19 | #1,656 | 11.7 |
| 1945 | 14 | #1,877 | 10.4 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,705 | 5.9 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,214 | 8.4 |
| 1942 | 10 | #2,428 | 7.2 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,392 | 8.1 |
| 1940 | 6 | #3,240 | 5.2 |
| 1939 | 7 | #2,936 | 6.3 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,377 | 9.0 |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,008 | 6.6 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,285 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 12 | #2,168 | 11.5 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,454 | 9.7 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,602 | 9.1 |
| 1932 | 9 | #2,702 | 8.6 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,394 | 6.4 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,694 | 5.6 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,177 | 7.2 |
| 1927 | 11 | #2,579 | 9.8 |
| 1926 | 6 | #3,861 | 5.4 |
| 1925 | 12 | #2,483 | 10.8 |
| 1923 | 7 | #3,588 | 6.4 |
| 1922 | 10 | #2,878 | 9.2 |
| 1921 | 11 | #2,694 | 10.0 |
| 1920 | 14 | #2,254 | 13.2 |
| 1919 | 10 | #2,746 | 10.2 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,196 | 13.8 |
| 1917 | 13 | #2,213 | 14.0 |
| 1916 | 11 | #2,433 | 12.4 |
| 1915 | 8 | #2,913 | 9.4 |
| 1913 | 5 | #2,977 | 9.8 |
| 1884 | 5 | #1,023 | 43.7 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Farley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,097 Americans recorded as Farley, 2% are girls and 98% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Farley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Farley, and how old are they?
An estimated 652 Americans named Farley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (59% of everyone recorded); the median is 64 years old and half are between 51 and 71. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 977 people named Farley (126 women and girls, 851 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 702 born in the U.S. The Census count is 39% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,219 babies since 1880, Farley is the most given (90% of them).
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 Farley
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1880-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Gill | 1,274 |
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 Farley and names like it
- Compare Farley and FairleyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sFarley peaked in 1952.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Farley since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Farley: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1952The year the most babies were named Farley.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Farley alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with FMost given first.