Preslie
A modern feminine name of possible British origin.
Name Census estimates that about 1,711 living Americans carry the first name Preslie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Preslie today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Preslie births was 2014 (118 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Preslie. 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
- • Preslie is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 200,324 Americans
Peak year
2014
118 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,845
Tracked since 1990
Census
Preslie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,409 people with the first name Preslie, which placed it at #9,736 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
#9,736
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,409 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Preslie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Preslie is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.9%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Preslie 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 Preslie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.6% · 1,164
- Hispanic or Latino8.9% · 125
- Two or more races5.4% · 76
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 18
- Black or African American1.2% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 9
Popularity
Preslie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Preslie from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 823 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Preslie 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 Preslie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Preslies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Texas, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Preslie, while Washington, Mississippi, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Preslie
The name Preslie is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, tracing back to the early medieval period in Britain. It is thought to be a diminutive form of the name Preston, which itself is derived from the Old English words "preost" meaning "priest" and "tun" meaning "town" or "village." As such, the name Preslie may have initially referred to someone living in a town or settlement associated with a priest or religious figure.
In terms of historical references, the name Preslie does not appear to have been widely documented in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in English parish records and census data from the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in areas such as Lancashire and Yorkshire.
One of the earliest notable individuals bearing the name Preslie was Preslie Plumpton, born in 1597 in Yorkshire, England. He was a wealthy landowner and served as a magistrate in the local community. Another early example is Preslie Wainwright, born in 1621 in Lancashire, who was a prominent merchant and trader during the early colonial period in America.
In the 18th century, Preslie Oglethorpe (1696-1785) was a notable military officer and politician who served as the first governor of the British colony of Georgia. He played a significant role in the establishment and development of the colony, and the city of Preslie, Georgia, was later named in his honor.
Moving into the 19th century, Preslie Coleridge (1819-1894) was a renowned English poet and literary critic, known for his works such as "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan." He was a leading figure in the Romantic movement and had a profound influence on English literature.
In the 20th century, Preslie Gillespie (1918-2003) was an American jazz musician and composer, widely regarded as one of the greatest drummers in the history of jazz. He was a prominent figure in the bebop and cool jazz movements and collaborated with many iconic musicians, including Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
Throughout its history, the name Preslie has maintained a relatively consistent spelling, though variations such as Pressley, Preslie, and Presley have also been documented. While not as common as some other names, Preslie has endured as a distinctive and historically significant given name, carrying with it a rich heritage and cultural significance.
People
Preslie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Preslie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Preslie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Preslie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,711 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Preslie 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 200,324 US residents.
Is Preslie a common name?
We classify Preslie as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,731 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Preslie most popular?
The single biggest year for Preslie was 2014, when 118 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Preslie is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Preslie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,409 people with the name Preslie, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,736 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 Preslie 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 Preslie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Preslie appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,407 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Preslie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Preslie is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.9%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Preslie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Preslie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.6% (1,164 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 Preslie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Preslie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Preslie 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 Preslie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Preslie 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 Preslie 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 Americans are named Preslie?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.