Ashley (name)

Ashley is an English unisex given name, originally a place name and surname. It is derived from the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words æsc (ash) and lēah (meadow, forest clearing).

For other uses, see Ashley (disambiguation).
Ashley
Pronunciation/ˈæʃli/
GenderUnisex
Language(s)English
Origin
MeaningAsh tree meadow

Ashley was originally used only for male children. It is a surname that turned into a first name. It was first recorded as a male given first/middle name in the 16th century and remained only male until around 350 years later.[1] It was popularized by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury 1621–1683 (also known as Lord Ashley). Uses of the boys' name in popular culture are Ashley Wilkes from 1939's Gone with the Wind and Ash Williams (Ashley Joanna Williams) from the 1981 film The Evil Dead.

Ashley in the United Kingdom remains predominantly male, ranking at #40 in 1996 for boys and staying within the top 100–300 male names given each year. Ashleigh is a common spelling of the female form, with Ashley remaining traditionally male across the country. Although Ashley is sometimes used for British females, it has dropped off the top U.K. female name charts since 2011.[2]

In the United States, Ashley gained popularity as a female first name in the late 20th century, outranking boys' usage by the 1980s and reaching #1 for girls' usage in 1991. Its rise in popularity is attributed to the female soap opera character Ashley Abbott who emerged on the still-running TV series The Young and the Restless in 1982. Ashley has not appeared in the top 1000 American baby boy names since 1994.[3]

As with many names that achieve popularity, a number of spellings of Ashley emerged. The United States Social Security Administration has records[4] of many different spellings, including Ashley, Ashleigh, Ashlee, Ashlie, Ashlyn, and foreign-looking variants such as Ashlé (pseudo-French), for example Ashlé Dawson.

People with the given name

Various people

Male given name

Female given name

Surname

Animals

In fiction
  • Ash Ketchum, the protagonist of the Pokémon television series
  • Ash Williams, protagonist in the Evil Dead film series
  • Ashley Abbott, a character in the America soap opera The Young and the Restless
  • Ashley Banks, a character in the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  • Ashley Bernitz, an antagonist in the game Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War
  • Ashley Graham, a Resident Evil 4 character
  • Ashley Hammond, a Power Rangers character
  • Ashley Juergens, a character in the teen drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager
  • Ashley Kerwin, a character in Canadian drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation
  • Ashley Magnus, a character in the science fiction-fantasy series Sanctuary
  • Ashley Marin, a character in the teen drama Pretty Little Liars
  • Ashley Mizuki Robbins, heroine in the Another Code video game series
  • Ashley Peacock, a character from the British soap opera Coronation Street
  • Ashley Riot, protagonist in the Vagrant Story video game
  • Ashley Spinelli & The Ashleys, characters in the children's television series Recess
  • Ashley Wilkes, central character in the 1936 novel Gone With the Wind
  • Ashley Williams (Mass Effect), female soldier in the Mass Effect video game series named after the Evil Dead character
  • Ashley Winchester, the main character of role-playing video game Wild Arms 2
  • Ashley, a character in the cartoon series School for Vampires
  • Ashley, a character in the Warioware series
  • Ask Ashley, comedy skit appearing on the Nickelodeon show All That

Popularity of the female name in the United States

[5]

Year of birthRank
2018 129
2017 122
2016 101
2015 85
201487
2013 68
2012 50
2011 42
201029
200818
200612
20048
20026
20004

See also

References
  1. "Ashley – Name Meaning, What does Ashley mean?".
  2. "Ashley – Baby Name – Meaning & Popularity".
  3. "Ashley as a first name or baby name".
  4. SueKunkel. "Popular Baby Names".
  5. "Popularity of female name Ashley". Social Security Administration. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.