Wrigley
A masculine English given name of uncertain meaning, possibly related to a wriggling movement.
Name Census estimates that about 955 living Americans carry the first name Wrigley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 58.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Wrigley today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wrigley births was 2017 (122 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wrigley. 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.
People living today
955
~ 1 in 358,905 Americans
Peak year
2017
122 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,987
Tracked since 2003
Gender
Gender distribution for Wrigley
Wrigley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 962 total registrations, 566 (58.8%) were male and 396 (41.2%) were female.
Wrigley as a male name
- Ranked #2,987 in 2024
- 42 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (57 births)
Wrigley as a female name
- Ranked #5,759 in 2024
- 22 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (65 births)
Popularity
Wrigley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wrigley from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 529 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Wrigley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wrigley 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 Wrigley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wrigleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Wrigley, while Iowa, Tennessee, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wrigley
The name Wrigley is an English surname that originated as a place name, referring to a location called "Wrigley" in the historic county of Lancashire, England. The name itself is derived from the Old English words "wri" meaning "twisted" and "leah" meaning "clearing" or "meadow," suggesting that it may have referred to a twisted or winding meadow or clearing in a wooded area.
While the name Wrigley is primarily known as a surname, it has also been used as a given name, although its origins as a first name are relatively obscure. There is no clear historical evidence of the name being used as a given name in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or early historical records.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wrigley being used as a first name is in the late 19th century. William Wrigley Jr., the founder of the Wrigley Company and the creator of the famous Wrigley's chewing gum, was born in 1861 and given the first name Wrigley, likely derived from his family's surname.
Another notable figure who bore the first name Wrigley was Wrigley Field, an American professional baseball player who played in the early 20th century. Born in 1890, he played for several teams, including the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Sox.
In the literary world, Wrigley Howard, an American writer and professor, was born in 1905 and published several works of fiction and non-fiction during his lifetime.
Moving into the realm of politics, Wrigley Sivertsen was a Norwegian politician who served as a member of the Storting (the Norwegian parliament) in the 1970s and 1980s.
Finally, Wrigley Fairclough was an English footballer who played as a forward for various clubs in the early 20th century, including Liverpool and Burnley. He was born in 1895 and played professionally until the late 1920s.
While the name Wrigley is not as common as a first name compared to its usage as a surname, these examples highlight its occasional use throughout history, particularly in the United States and England, where the surname Wrigley has its origins.
People
Wrigley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wrigley 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
Wrigley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wrigley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 955 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wrigley 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 358,905 US residents.
Is Wrigley a common name?
We classify Wrigley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 962 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wrigley most popular?
The single biggest year for Wrigley was 2017, when 122 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wrigley is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Wrigley a male name?
Yes, 58.8% of people registered as Wrigley 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.