Both, Boy Names, Girl Names baby nameAshley

What does the name Ashley mean?

The meaning of the name “Ashley” is: “The grove of ash trees”.

Additional information: The name Ashley comes from an English origin. It was made from putting together the words æsc (ash) and leah (an open field or meadow). The meaning is generally “field of ash trees” or some similar variant. Originally this name was used as a place name and surname only until around the 16th century in England when it was given as a men’s name. It continued as a mostly male first name until the late 1900s when it was sometimes given as a female name in the US and other countries. In England it is still largely a male-only name.

There are many popular variations of the female name Ashley. Many people choose to use an alternate spelling to help differentiate between the male and female versions of the name. Alternate spellings for females include Ashleigh, Ashleen, and Ashlea. Some other popular female and male names were derived from the name Ashley, such as Leigh, Lee, Leah, Ashlyn, Ashlynn, Asher, and Ash. The name is commonly misspelled as Ashly, Ashaly, or Ashleah.

Ashley used as a female name started becoming more common around the 1980s, and that popularity skyrocketed in 1991 when it was the #1 most common baby girl’s name in the US. Since then it has never reached #1 again, but has always been within the top 100 names. Outside of the USA, Ashley as a female name is not as common. 2014 saw the name reach 98th most common in Australia, 87th most common in the USA, and in Canada the similar name variation Leah was the 11th most common.

There was an urban legend that has circulated around the internet twice at different points in time about a missing 13 year old girl name Ashley Flores. She was said to have been from Philadelphia, but the report ended up being an internet hoax and nothing more.

Famous people that share the name include Ashley Olsen, an actress; Ashley Judd, an Actress; Ashley Tisdale, an actress; and Ashley Wagner, a figure skater.