Bexley
A place-name derived from the Old English words "beorc" and "leah", meaning "clearing in a birch forest".
Name Census estimates that about 3,189 living Americans carry the first name Bexley. It is a predominantly female name (92.5% of registrations). The average person named Bexley today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bexley births was 2021 (409 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bexley. 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
- • Bexley is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 107,480 Americans
Peak year
2021
409 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,125
Tracked since 2009
Gender
Gender distribution for Bexley
Bexley leans heavily female at 92.5% of total registrations, but 240 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bexley as a male name
- Ranked #5,454 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (41 births)
Bexley as a female name
- Ranked #1,125 in 2024
- 214 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (378 births)
Popularity
Bexley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bexley from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,623 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bexley 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 Bexley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bexleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Ohio, Texas, Indiana recorded the most babies named Bexley, while West Virginia, Oregon, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bexley
The name Bexley is an English given name derived from the Old English words "beocc," meaning "stream," and "leah," meaning "woodland clearing." It is thought to have originated as a place name in the county of Kent, England, referring to a woodland clearing near a stream.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bexley can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Baxterleah." This suggests that the name has been in use for at least a millennium, though its origins as a given name are somewhat more obscure.
In terms of historical references, there are few notable individuals from ancient or medieval times who bore the name Bexley. However, the name gained some prominence in the 19th and 20th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the given name Bexley was Bexley Anspach (1842-1927), an American businessman and politician who served as the Mayor of Columbus, Ohio, from 1892 to 1894.
Another notable figure was Bexley Heath (1877-1950), an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club and the England national team in the early 20th century.
In the realm of literature, Bexley Randolph was the pen name of American author Mary Frances Shura (1858-1936), who wrote several popular novels and short stories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Bexley Moor (1892-1967) was a British artist and sculptor known for her works in bronze and stone, and her contributions to the Arts and Crafts movement in the early 20th century.
More recently, Bexley Laidler (1942-2019) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1986 to 1991.
While not an exhaustive list, these individuals demonstrate the use of Bexley as a given name across different countries and time periods, though its origins remain firmly rooted in the English language and the county of Kent.
People
Bexley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bexley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bexley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bexley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,189 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bexley 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 107,480 US residents.
Is Bexley a common name?
We classify Bexley as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,209 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bexley most popular?
The single biggest year for Bexley was 2021, when 409 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bexley is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Bexley a female name?
Yes, 92.5% of people registered as Bexley 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.