NameRealm
Whitley

Whitley: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“white clearing”
Origin
Old English
Say it
WIT-lee · 2 syllables
Used for
Girls (91% of all uses)

From an English surname and place name, from Old English hwit 'white' and leah 'clearing, meadow'. It is also used as a given name in modern English usage.

English namesNames meaning natureSurname-style namesModern names

How popular is Whitley?

2024148 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Whitley in 2024494

2024 rank#682 girls

Peak year2024

Total US babies since 18808,482

Whitley is rising: use over the last five years is 2.6× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Whitley

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Audreynoble strength · Old English
  • Ashleyash tree clearing · Old English
  • Oakleyoak clearing · Old English
  • Hadleyheather field · Old English
  • Blakelydark wood or clearing · Old English
  • KimberlyCyneburg's meadow · Old English
  • Presleypriest's meadow · Old English
  • Marleypleasant wood · Old English

Whitley questions

What does the name Whitley mean?

Whitley means "white clearing". It comes from Old English. From an English surname and place name, from Old English hwit 'white' and leah 'clearing, meadow'. It is also used as a given name in modern English usage.

Is Whitley a boy or girl name?

Whitley is mainly a girl's name in US records (91% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Whitley?

494 US babies were named Whitley in 2024. Its peak year was 2024.

How do you pronounce Whitley?

Whitley is usually pronounced WIT-lee.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.