Aynsley
A feminine name of Old English origin meaning "clearing on a hill".
Name Census estimates that about 411 living Americans carry the first name Aynsley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aynsley today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aynsley births was 2006 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aynsley. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aynsley with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
411
~ 1 in 833,952 Americans
Peak year
2006
21 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2022 SSA rank
#11,357
Tracked since 1975
Census
Aynsley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 457 people with the first name Aynsley, which placed it at #21,974 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
#21,974
National first-name rank
People counted
457
457 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aynsley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aynsley is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.7%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Aynsley 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 Aynsley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.8% · 406
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 17
- Two or more races3.7% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 8
- Black or African American1.3% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3
Popularity
Aynsley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aynsley from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 135 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aynsley 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 Aynsley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aynsley
The name Aynsley is believed to have originated from the Old English personal name Æðelnoth, which was derived from the words æðele, meaning "noble," and noð, meaning "courage" or "daring." This name was popular during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, dating back to the 5th to 11th centuries.
The name Aynsley likely evolved from the Old English name through various spelling variations over time, such as Ainslie, Ainsley, and Aynslie. The earliest recorded instances of the name Aynsley can be traced back to the late 16th century in England.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Aynsley was Sir Philip Aynsley, an English landowner and Member of Parliament who lived in the 17th century (1634-1711). Another prominent individual was Robert Aynsley, an English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1741.
In the 18th century, Aynsley Gooch (1737-1805) was a British Army officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. Additionally, Aynsley Lambe (1768-1838) was a British naval officer and explorer who commanded expeditions to the Arctic regions in the early 19th century.
During the Victorian era, Aynsley became a popular name, particularly among the upper classes in England. One notable figure from this time was Aynsley Townshend Wray (1843-1919), a British Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military award for gallantry.
Throughout history, the name Aynsley has been associated with individuals from various walks of life, including politicians, military figures, explorers, and landowners, reflecting its English origins and the social status it held over time.
People
Aynsley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aynsley 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
Aynsley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aynsley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 411 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aynsley 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 833,952 US residents.
Is Aynsley a common name?
We classify Aynsley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 424 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aynsley most popular?
The single biggest year for Aynsley was 2006, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aynsley is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aynsley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 457 people with the name Aynsley, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,974 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 Aynsley 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 Aynsley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aynsley leans strongly female. 418 people counted with this name were female (91.7%), compared with 38 male bearers (8.3%). 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 Aynsley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aynsley is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.7%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Aynsley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aynsley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.8% (406 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 Aynsley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aynsley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aynsley 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 Aynsley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aynsley 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 Aynsley 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 have Aynsley as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Aynsley, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.