Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Ashley was most popular in 1987, when 55,265 American babies were given the name — ranking #3 that year. In 2025 it ranked #366, with 1,856 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 875,722 people named Ashley.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Ashley is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 145 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 875,722 American births named Ashley between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 855,108 are estimated to be alive today.
1,856 American babies were named Ashley in 2025, ranking #366 that year.
Ashley is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 1,992 births a year, against 4,239 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -53% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Ashley is a girl’s name — 98.2% of the 875,722 Americans given it were girls and 1.8% were boys. It changed hands: since 1964 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 99% girls and 1% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 855,108 Americans named Ashley are alive today — 98% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 35 years old, and half are between 28 and 40. That is a narrow band: Ashley arrived and faded within about a decade rather than staying in steady use.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Old English · "ash tree meadow"
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Ashley on the interactive charts
About · Privacy · Contact
Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org