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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Hawley with official rankings and popularity over time.
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
Census
Hawley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 319 people with the first name Hawley, which placed it at #28,252 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
#28,252
National first-name rank
People counted
319
319 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hawley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hawley is White at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.6%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Hawley 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 Hawley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.0% · 268
- Two or more races5.6% · 18
- Black or African American5.3% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
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)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hawley on both sides of the split. Of the 311 people counted with this name, 125 were male (40.2%) and 186 were female (59.8%).
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.
How common was Hawley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 319 people with the name Hawley, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,252 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 Hawley 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 Hawley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hawley on both sides of the split. Of the 311 people counted with this name, 125 were male (40.2%) and 186 were female (59.8%). 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 Hawley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hawley is White at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.6%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Hawley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hawley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.0% (268 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 Hawley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Hawley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hawley 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 Hawley 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 common is the name Hawley?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.