Asley
Of English origin meaning "meadow of ash trees".
Name Census estimates that about 585 living Americans carry the first name Asley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Asley today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Asley births was 1987 (62 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Asley. 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.
People living today
585
~ 1 in 585,905 Americans
Peak year
1987
62 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,626
Tracked since 1981
Census
Asley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 829 people with the first name Asley, which placed it at #14,252 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,252
National first-name rank
People counted
829
829 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Asley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asley is White at 40.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.3%) and Black (16.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Asley described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Asley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.8% · 338
- Hispanic or Latino37.3% · 309
- Black or African American16.9% · 140
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 21
- Two or more races1.7% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 7
Popularity
Asley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Asley from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 335 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Asley 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 Asley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Asleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Asley, while Missouri, Illinois, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Asley
The name Asley is of Old English origin, derived from the combination of two elements: "æsc" (ash tree) and "leah" (meadow or clearing). It emerged around the 7th century AD, when Old English was the predominant language spoken in parts of what is now England.
The earliest recorded spelling of the name appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is written as "Aesceleia." This was a topographic name, initially referring to a meadow or clearing where ash trees grew. It was later adopted as a given name.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Asley de Ridware, a landowner from Staffordshire, England, who lived in the 13th century. Another notable historical figure was Sir Asley Cooper, an English surgeon and anatomist who lived from 1768 to 1841 and made significant contributions to the study of anatomy and the treatment of various medical conditions.
In the 16th century, the name gained popularity among the English nobility. Sir Asley Paulet, a prominent courtier during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, was born in 1532 and died in 1600. He served as the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire and played a role in the downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Another famous bearer of the name was Asley Cowper, an English poet and satirist who lived from 1666 to 1709. He is best known for his works "The Mistress" and "The Garden," which explored themes of love, nature, and morality.
In the 19th century, Asley Wilkes Cooper, an English lawyer and politician, gained prominence. He was born in 1835 and served as a Member of Parliament for several constituencies, including Southampton and Winchester.
While the name Asley was traditionally more common among men, it has also been used as a feminine name in modern times, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, its historical roots and early use were predominantly as a masculine given name.
People
Asley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Asley 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
Asley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Asley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 585 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Asley 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 585,905 US residents.
Is Asley a common name?
We classify Asley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 611 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Asley most popular?
The single biggest year for Asley was 1987, when 62 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Asley is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Asley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 829 people with the name Asley, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,252 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Asley in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Asley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Asley leans strongly female. 705 people counted with this name were female (84.9%), compared with 125 male bearers (15.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Asley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asley is White at 40.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.3%) and Black (16.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Asley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Asley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.8% (338 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Asley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Asley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Asley 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.
Is Asley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Asley in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Asley can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people share the name Asley?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.