Ainsley
A feminine name of English origin meaning "from the meadow enclosure".
Name Census estimates that about 20,012 living Americans carry the first name Ainsley. It is a predominantly female name (97.9% of registrations). The average person named Ainsley today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ainsley births was 2014 (1,013 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ainsley. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Although Ainsley is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 418 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Ainsley is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 17,127 Americans
Peak year
2014
1,013 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2023 SSA rank
#706
Tracked since 1950
Gender
Gender distribution for Ainsley
Ainsley leans heavily female at 97.9% of total registrations, but 418 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ainsley as a male name
- Ranked #8,280 in 2023
- 9 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2015 (17 births)
Ainsley as a female name
- Ranked #706 in 2024
- 397 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (1,001 births)
Popularity
Ainsley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ainsley from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 9,065 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ainsley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ainsley by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ainsley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ainsleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Ainsley, while Wyoming, Vermont, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 364 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ainsley
The name Ainsley originated from an English surname that derived from a place name, Annesley, in Nottinghamshire, England. The name Annesley comes from the Old English words "anne" meaning "solitary" and "ley" meaning "meadow" or "clearing." The name Ainsley likely emerged as a variant spelling of the surname during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ainsley dates back to the 13th century, when a person named Ainsley de Annesley was mentioned in the Testa de Nevill, a record of land holdings in England. The name continued to be used primarily as a surname throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era.
The first recorded use of Ainsley as a given name appears to be in the late 19th century. One of the earliest known individuals with the first name Ainsley was Ainsley Armstrong (1886-1962), a Canadian politician who served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada.
Other notable individuals named Ainsley throughout history include:
1. Ainsley Harriott (born 1957), a British chef, television presenter, and author.
2. Ainsley Maitland-Niles (born 1997), an English professional football player.
3. Ainsley Earhardt (born 1976), an American television personality and author.
4. Ainsley Candrich (1898-1983), an American film director and screenwriter.
5. Ainsley Gommon (born 1972), a Canadian actress and singer.
While the name Ainsley has its roots in England, it has gained popularity as a given name in various English-speaking countries, including the United States, Canada, and Australia. The name has been used for both males and females, although it is more commonly given to girls in recent decades.
People
Ainsley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ainsley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ainsley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ainsley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,012 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ainsley going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 17,127 US residents.
Is Ainsley a common name?
We classify Ainsley as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,263 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ainsley most popular?
The single biggest year for Ainsley was 2014, when 1,013 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ainsley is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ainsley a female name?
Yes, 97.9% of people registered as Ainsley in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.