Finley
Fair-haired man from a place covered in trees or shrubs.
Name Census estimates that about 38,945 living Americans carry the first name Finley. It sits at #290 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Finley today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Finley births was 2017 (3,162 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Finley. 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 Finley with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Finley sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Finley is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
39K
~ 1 in 8,801 Americans
Peak year
2017
3,162 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#290
Tracked since 1880
Census
Finley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 26,154 people with the first name Finley, which placed it at #1,361 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
#1,361
National first-name rank
People counted
26K
26,154 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Finley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Finley is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Finley 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 Finley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.8% · 23,229
- Two or more races4.9% · 1,287
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 1,083
- Black or African American1.0% · 259
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 200
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 96
Gender
Gender distribution for Finley
Finley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 40,510 total registrations, 18,360 (45.3%) were male and 22,150 (54.7%) were female.
Finley as a male name
- Ranked #290 in 2024
- 1,153 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (1,307 births)
Finley as a female name
- Ranked #365 in 2024
- 858 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (1,866 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Finley on both sides of the split. Of the 26,158 people counted with this name, 10,706 were male (40.9%) and 15,452 were female (59.1%).
Popularity
Finley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Finley from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 22,603 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Finley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Finley 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 Finley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Finleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Finley, while Hawaii, District of Columbia, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 733 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Finley
The name Finley originates from the Scottish Gaelic language and can be traced back to the medieval era. It is derived from the Gaelic words "fionn," meaning fair or white, and "leath," meaning a portion or side. The name therefore translates to "fair-haired warrior" or "fair-haired descendant."
The earliest recorded use of the name Finley can be found in ancient Scottish clan records and genealogies. The name was particularly prevalent among the Highland clans, such as the Clan MacDonald and the Clan MacFinnon, where it was often used as a personal name or a surname.
In the 16th century, the name Finley gained historical significance when it was borne by Finley Mor, a celebrated Scottish warrior and chieftain of the Clan MacFinnon. He played a pivotal role in the clan battles and feuds of the time, and his exploits were documented in various Scottish historical accounts.
Another notable figure with the name Finley was Finley McRae, a Scottish Presbyterian minister who lived in the 17th century. He was known for his fiery sermons and his unwavering dedication to the Presbyterian cause during the religious turmoil of that era.
In the 19th century, Finley Ellingwood was an American physician and author who made significant contributions to the field of homeopathic medicine. His works, such as "A Treatise on Materia Medica and Therapeutics," were widely influential in their time.
Another prominent individual with the name Finley was Finley Peter Dunne, an American humorist and writer who lived from 1867 to 1936. He is best remembered for creating the character Mr. Dooley, whose humorous musings on politics and life were widely popular in the early 20th century.
In the realm of sports, Finley Anderson was an American baseball player who played in the Major League Baseball from 1913 to 1925. He was a skilled outfielder and played for several teams, including the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox.
While the name Finley has Scottish roots, it has gained popularity across various cultures and regions over time. Its meaning and historical significance have made it a enduring choice for parents seeking a name steeped in tradition and heritage.
People
Finley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Finley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Finley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Finley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38,945 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Finley 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 8,801 US residents.
Is Finley a common name?
We classify Finley as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 40,510 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Finley most popular?
The single biggest year for Finley was 2017, when 3,162 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Finley is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Finley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 26,154 people with the name Finley, or 8.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,361 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 Finley 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 Finley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Finley on both sides of the split. Of the 26,158 people counted with this name, 10,706 were male (40.9%) and 15,452 were female (59.1%). 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 Finley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Finley is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Finley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Finley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.8% (23,229 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 Finley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Finley a female name?
Yes, 54.7% of people registered as Finley 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 Finley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Finley 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 Finley 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 Finley as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Finley, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.