Hawley
Of Anglo-Saxon origin, a pleasant meadow or hedged area.
Name Census estimates that about 86 living Americans carry the first name Hawley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 69.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Hawley today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hawley births was 1918 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hawley. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hawley. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
86
~ 1 in 3,985,516 Americans
Peak year
1918
13 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1979 SSA rank
#6,427
Tracked since 1907
Gender
Gender distribution for Hawley
Hawley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 217 total registrations, 150 (69.1%) were male and 67 (30.9%) were female.
Hawley as a male name
- Ranked #6,427 in 1979
- 5 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1918 (13 births)
Hawley as a female name
- Ranked #14,461 in 2018
- 6 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1982 (8 births)
Popularity
Hawley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hawley from the 1900s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 68 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hawley 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 Hawley 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 Hawley
The given name Hawley is an English surname that has been adopted as a masculine given name. Its origins can be traced back to the Old English words 'hæg' meaning 'hay' and 'leah' meaning 'clearing' or 'meadow'. Together, these words form the meaning 'hay clearing' or 'hay meadow', likely referring to a location or area where hay was grown or harvested.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hawley can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and estates in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appeared in various spellings such as 'Hauelei' and 'Haulei', indicating its presence in the region during the Norman conquest.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hawley. One of the earliest was Sir John Hawley (c. 1320-1390), an English knight who served under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War. He distinguished himself in battles against the French and was later appointed as the Constable of the Tower of London.
Another prominent figure was Joseph Hawley (1723-1788), an American revolutionary leader and politician. He played a significant role in the events leading up to the American Revolutionary War, serving as a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and the Continental Congress.
In the realm of literature, Hawley Crippen (1862-1910) was an American homeopathic doctor and convicted murderer. His sensational trial for the murder of his wife, Cora Crippen, garnered widespread attention and became known as one of the first cases to extensively employ forensic evidence.
Hawley Harvey Crippen (1865-1913) was an American professional baseball player who played for several teams in the late 19th century, including the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago Colts.
Lastly, Hawley Pratt (1911-1965) was an American film director and screenwriter best known for his work on several Western and action films in the 1940s and 1950s, including "The Lawless Breed" and "The Cimarron Kid".
While the name Hawley has its roots in Old English, it has endured through the centuries and continues to be used as a given name, carrying with it a rich history and connection to notable individuals across various fields.
People
Hawley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hawley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hawley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hawley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 86 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hawley 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 3,985,516 US residents.
Is Hawley a common name?
We classify Hawley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 217 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hawley most popular?
The single biggest year for Hawley was 1918, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hawley is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Hawley a male name?
Yes, 69.1% of people registered as Hawley in the SSA data are male. 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.