Weslie
A variation of the English name Wesley, meaning "Western meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 799 living Americans carry the first name Weslie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 58.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Weslie today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Weslie births was 2024 (88 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Weslie. 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
- • Weslie started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
799
~ 1 in 428,979 Americans
Peak year
2024
88 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,261
Tracked since 1914
Census
Weslie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 700 people with the first name Weslie, which placed it at #16,202 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
#16,202
National first-name rank
People counted
700
700 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Weslie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Weslie is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Black (10.0%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Weslie 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 Weslie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.6% · 501
- Black or African American10.0% · 70
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 66
- Two or more races4.3% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Weslie
Weslie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 937 total registrations, 387 (41.3%) were male and 550 (58.7%) were female.
Weslie as a male name
- Ranked #14,109 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1927 (11 births)
Weslie as a female name
- Ranked #2,261 in 2024
- 83 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (83 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Weslie on both sides of the split. Of the 694 people counted with this name, 348 were male (50.1%) and 346 were female (49.9%).
Popularity
Weslie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Weslie from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 289 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
Weslie 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 Weslie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Weslies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Utah, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Weslie, while Nebraska, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Weslie
The name Weslie has its origins in the Old English language and is believed to have derived from the word "west," which referred to the cardinal direction. It is likely that the name was initially used as a descriptive term for someone who lived in the western part of a settlement or region.
In the early medieval period, the name Weslie began to gain popularity as a given name among the Anglo-Saxon population. It was particularly common in the regions that now make up parts of England and Scotland. The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 9th century, appearing in various historical documents and records.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Weslie was a monk named Weslie of Lindisfarne, who lived in the late 8th century. He is believed to have been an influential figure in the Northumbrian monastic community and played a role in the preservation of religious texts and manuscripts during the Viking invasions.
In the 11th century, a nobleman named Weslie of Mercia was a prominent figure in the English court of King Edward the Confessor. He is noted in historical accounts for his role in mediating disputes between the king and his nobles.
During the 12th century, a scholar and philosopher named Weslie of Oxford gained recognition for his contributions to the study of logic and metaphysics. His works were widely read and discussed in the academic circles of the time.
In the 14th century, a knight named Sir Weslie Mortimer fought alongside King Edward III in the Hundred Years' War against France. He is said to have distinguished himself in several battles and was awarded lands and titles for his valor.
Another notable bearer of the name was Weslie Chaucer, a 15th-century English poet and author. Although not as renowned as his father, Geoffrey Chaucer, Weslie Chaucer is known for his contributions to the development of English literature during the late Middle Ages.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Weslie. While the name has undergone various spelling variations over the centuries, its roots can be traced back to the Old English language and its association with the western direction or location.
People
Weslie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Weslie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Weslie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Weslie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 799 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Weslie 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 428,979 US residents.
Is Weslie a common name?
We classify Weslie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 937 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Weslie most popular?
The single biggest year for Weslie was 2024, when 88 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Weslie is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Weslie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 700 people with the name Weslie, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,202 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 Weslie 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 Weslie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Weslie on both sides of the split. Of the 694 people counted with this name, 348 were male (50.1%) and 346 were female (49.9%). 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 Weslie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Weslie is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Black (10.0%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Weslie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Weslie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.6% (501 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 Weslie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Weslie a female name?
Yes, 58.7% of people registered as Weslie 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 Weslie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Weslie 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 Weslie 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 Weslie?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Weslie at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.