Worley
Diminutive form of the name Wilfred, derived from the Old English elements meaning "desirable protection".
Name Census estimates that about 197 living Americans carry the first name Worley. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Worley today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Worley births was 1920 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Worley. 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
- • The typical person named Worley is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Worleys were born before 1959.
People living today
197
~ 1 in 1,739,870 Americans
Peak year
1920
32 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1971 SSA rank
#4,897
Tracked since 1882
Census
Worley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 236 people with the first name Worley, which placed it at #34,545 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
#34,545
National first-name rank
People counted
236
236 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Worley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Worley is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Black (14.8%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Worley 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 Worley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.1% · 189
- Black or African American14.8% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
- Two or more races0.4% · 1
Popularity
Worley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Worley from the 1880s through to the 1970s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 181 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
Worley 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 Worley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Worleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Worley, while Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Worley
The name Worley is believed to have originated as an English surname derived from the Old English word "woruld," meaning "world." The name was likely initially used as a descriptive surname for someone who traveled extensively or had a worldly or cosmopolitan outlook.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Worley appeared in various historical records, such as the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The earliest recorded use of Worley as a given name dates back to the 13th century, when it was occasionally bestowed upon male children, likely as a way to honor or commemorate a respected family member or ancestor with the surname Worley.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the given name Worley was Worley Parsons (1290-1352), an English clergyman and scholar who served as the Canon of Salisbury Cathedral. Another early bearer of the name was Worley Whitfield (1315-1379), a merchant and landowner from Somerset, England, who is mentioned in local records of the time.
In the 16th century, Worley Mowbray (1505-1578) was a prominent English courtier and diplomat who served under King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. During the English Civil War in the 17th century, Worley Fairfax (1612-1671) was a notable military commander who fought for the Parliamentarian forces against King Charles I.
Moving into the 18th century, Worley Johnson (1725-1807) was a respected English philosopher and writer who published several influential treatises on ethics and moral philosophy. In the 19th century, Worley Tennyson (1809-1892), the nephew of the famous poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was a notable figure in his own right, serving as a member of Parliament and advocating for various social reforms.
While not as common as some other given names, Worley has been used throughout history by individuals from various backgrounds and professions, reflecting the name's broad and worldly connotations.
People
Worley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Worley 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
Worley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Worley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 197 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Worley 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 1,739,870 US residents.
Is Worley a common name?
We classify Worley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 730 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Worley most popular?
The single biggest year for Worley was 1920, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Worley is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Worley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 236 people with the name Worley, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,545 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 Worley 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 Worley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Worley leans strongly male. 221 people counted with this name were male (95.7%), compared with 10 female bearers (4.3%). 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 Worley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Worley is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Black (14.8%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Worley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Worley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.1% (189 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 Worley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Worley a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Worley 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 Worley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Worley 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 Worley 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 Worley?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.