Finley
Finley is a unisex name: 753 girls and 1,017 boys were given it in 2025 (#415 among girls’ names and #333 among boys’, #384 among all names counting both); 42,288 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Boys have outnumbered girls among babies named Finley every year since 2023.
An estimated 40,600 Americans named Finley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 5 and 12.
Finley is among the most evenly shared names of 2025: #9 of 43 unisex names by how close its split is to half and half.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Finley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Finley mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Finley is “a unisex given name transferred from the surname.”
Variant of Finlay.
/ˈfɪnli/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Finley?
#415 among girls’ names, 2025
Finley fell from #204 in 2015 to #415 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.90 to 0.47 per 1,000.
3,162 babies in 2017, the peak
Finley peaked in 2017, when 3,162 babies were given it (1,866 girls, #159 among girls’ names). The 1,770 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 56% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 753 | #415 | 1,017 | #333 |
| 2024 | 862 | #363 | 1,156 | #290 |
| 2023 | 1,113 | #282 | 1,178 | #285 |
| 2022 | 1,367 | #218 | 1,225 | #281 |
| 2021 | 1,414 | #211 | 1,307 | #265 |
| 2020 | 1,442 | #201 | 1,089 | #305 |
| 2019 | 1,575 | #188 | 1,194 | #287 |
| 2018 | 1,755 | #165 | 1,290 | #275 |
| 2017 | 1,866 | #159 | 1,296 | #279 |
| 2016 | 1,727 | #191 | 1,253 | #287 |
Every recorded year (135)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,602 | #204 | 1,060 | #326 |
| 2014 | 1,510 | #223 | 834 | #376 |
| 2013 | 1,093 | #292 | 571 | #483 |
| 2012 | 913 | #349 | 478 | #546 |
| 2011 | 880 | #364 | 507 | #511 |
| 2010 | 780 | #408 | 419 | #596 |
| 2009 | 576 | #525 | 331 | #717 |
| 2008 | 463 | #663 | 266 | #825 |
| 2007 | 352 | #816 | 272 | #794 |
| 2006 | 289 | #914 | 220 | #891 |
| 2005 | 248 | #986 | 136 | #1,172 |
| 2004 | 168 | #1,274 | 121 | #1,246 |
| 2003 | 43 | #3,371 | 74 | #1,677 |
| 2002 | 27 | #4,536 | 42 | #2,406 |
| 2001 | 11 | #8,955 | 35 | #2,701 |
| 2000 | 17 | #6,289 | 38 | #2,488 |
| 1999 | 19 | #5,498 | 17 | #4,208 |
| 1998 | 12 | #7,706 | 17 | #4,069 |
| 1997 | 9 | #9,274 | 12 | #5,053 |
| 1996 | 7 | #10,949 | 15 | #4,240 |
| 1995 | 5 | #14,161 | 12 | #4,887 |
| 1994 | under 5 | 9 | #6,006 | |
| 1992 | under 5 | 8 | #6,310 | |
| 1991 | 5 | #13,866 | 6 | #7,572 |
| 1990 | under 5 | 6 | #7,464 | |
| 1989 | 5 | #13,033 | 11 | #4,609 |
| 1988 | under 5 | 10 | #4,540 | |
| 1987 | under 5 | 7 | #5,679 | |
| 1984 | under 5 | 7 | #5,146 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 8 | #4,667 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 8 | #4,640 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 12 | #3,425 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 6 | #5,359 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 7 | #4,578 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 7 | #4,481 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 5 | #5,476 | |
| 1973 | under 5 | 10 | #3,285 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 17 | #2,270 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 12 | #2,867 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 9 | #3,360 | |
| 1969 | under 5 | 13 | #2,462 | |
| 1968 | under 5 | 10 | #2,796 | |
| 1967 | under 5 | 13 | #2,276 | |
| 1966 | under 5 | 9 | #2,848 | |
| 1965 | under 5 | 13 | #2,302 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 11 | #2,582 | |
| 1963 | under 5 | 14 | #2,235 | |
| 1962 | under 5 | 11 | #2,566 | |
| 1961 | under 5 | 9 | #2,963 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 18 | #1,928 | |
| 1959 | under 5 | 15 | #2,142 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 28 | #1,492 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 22 | #1,726 | |
| 1956 | under 5 | 16 | #2,037 | |
| 1955 | under 5 | 24 | #1,580 | |
| 1954 | under 5 | 23 | #1,605 | |
| 1953 | under 5 | 19 | #1,783 | |
| 1952 | under 5 | 22 | #1,633 | |
| 1951 | under 5 | 23 | #1,568 | |
| 1950 | under 5 | 26 | #1,443 | |
| 1949 | under 5 | 20 | #1,678 | |
| 1948 | under 5 | 21 | #1,622 | |
| 1947 | under 5 | 18 | #1,807 | |
| 1946 | under 5 | 21 | #1,575 | |
| 1945 | under 5 | 33 | #1,146 | |
| 1944 | under 5 | 27 | #1,293 | |
| 1943 | under 5 | 29 | #1,289 | |
| 1942 | under 5 | 34 | #1,199 | |
| 1941 | under 5 | 24 | #1,383 | |
| 1940 | under 5 | 28 | #1,281 | |
| 1939 | under 5 | 28 | #1,247 | |
| 1938 | under 5 | 18 | #1,635 | |
| 1937 | under 5 | 20 | #1,550 | |
| 1936 | under 5 | 20 | #1,517 | |
| 1935 | under 5 | 20 | #1,558 | |
| 1934 | under 5 | 24 | #1,398 | |
| 1933 | under 5 | 28 | #1,259 | |
| 1932 | under 5 | 33 | #1,184 | |
| 1931 | under 5 | 21 | #1,563 | |
| 1930 | under 5 | 29 | #1,349 | |
| 1929 | under 5 | 23 | #1,538 | |
| 1928 | under 5 | 39 | #1,133 | |
| 1927 | under 5 | 44 | #1,065 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 36 | #1,201 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 35 | #1,209 | |
| 1924 | under 5 | 37 | #1,194 | |
| 1923 | under 5 | 39 | #1,141 | |
| 1922 | under 5 | 38 | #1,167 | |
| 1921 | under 5 | 36 | #1,209 | |
| 1920 | under 5 | 42 | #1,096 | |
| 1919 | under 5 | 42 | #1,055 | |
| 1918 | under 5 | 42 | #1,043 | |
| 1917 | under 5 | 58 | #841 | |
| 1916 | under 5 | 41 | #1,004 | |
| 1915 | under 5 | 44 | #945 | |
| 1914 | under 5 | 29 | #1,063 | |
| 1913 | under 5 | 31 | #885 | |
| 1912 | under 5 | 16 | #1,200 | |
| 1911 | under 5 | 10 | #1,140 | |
| 1910 | under 5 | 14 | #837 | |
| 1909 | under 5 | 7 | #1,194 | |
| 1908 | under 5 | 11 | #851 | |
| 1907 | under 5 | 6 | #1,246 | |
| 1906 | under 5 | 9 | #874 | |
| 1905 | under 5 | 11 | #760 | |
| 1904 | under 5 | 5 | #1,269 | |
| 1901 | under 5 | 8 | #798 | |
| 1900 | under 5 | 8 | #991 | |
| 1898 | under 5 | 10 | #710 | |
| 1897 | under 5 | 9 | #746 | |
| 1896 | under 5 | 6 | #1,029 | |
| 1894 | under 5 | 5 | #1,141 | |
| 1893 | under 5 | 6 | #946 | |
| 1892 | under 5 | 8 | #819 | |
| 1890 | under 5 | 7 | #835 | |
| 1889 | under 5 | 5 | #1,023 | |
| 1888 | under 5 | 8 | #774 | |
| 1887 | under 5 | 7 | #775 | |
| 1886 | under 5 | 6 | #886 | |
| 1885 | under 5 | 8 | #727 | |
| 1884 | under 5 | 10 | #633 | |
| 1883 | under 5 | 7 | #753 | |
| 1882 | under 5 | 14 | #501 | |
| 1881 | under 5 | 10 | #573 | |
| 1880 | under 5 | 11 | #583 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Finley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 42,288 Americans recorded as Finley, 54% are girls and 46% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Finley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Finley, and how old are they?
40,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 42,288 Americans ever recorded as Finley. The median Finley alive today is 9 years old; half are between 5 and 12.
The 2020 Census counted 26,158 people named Finley (15,452 women and girls, 10,706 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 27,568 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 94 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 233 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 132 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 116 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 7,720 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 32,300 |
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 Finley born?
The states with the most babies named Finley are Texas, California and North Carolina, with 18% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 119 | #426 | 0.6× |
| California | 110 | #704 | 0.5× |
| North Carolina | 84 | #363 | 1.3× |
| Florida | 84 | #605 | 0.7× |
| New York | 72 | #806 | 0.5× |
| Michigan | 65 | #414 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 64 | #378 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 64 | #367 | 0.9× |
| Missouri | 60 | #175 | 1.3× |
| Indiana | 60 | #272 | 1.2× |
Where Finley is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Finley is most over-represented in Montana: since 1910 it was given 2.0 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 Finley 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 44,395 babies since 1880, Finley is the most given (95% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,770 of their 1,866 babies (95%), 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 Finley
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 Finley and names like it
- Compare Finley and FinleeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sFinley peaked in 2017.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Finley since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Finley: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2017The year the most babies were named Finley.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Finley alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with FMost given first.