Name meaning and origin
Ashley
Old English: Ash-tree wood or clearing
Pronounced ASH-lee
Where the name comes from
- Old EnglishAsh-tree wood or clearingOld English æsc "ash tree" + lēah "wood, clearing"Transferred use of an English surname taken from several place names (Hanks & Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames, Oxford 1998). In the United States it was given more often to boys until the 1960s; its spread for girls is often credited in part to Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1936).
Ashley across traditions
- United States. The second most popular US girls’ name of the 1990s (SSA: 301,820 births), the tenth of the 2000s, and the top girls’ name in New Mexico in 1993.
- England and Australia. In Britain the name has been mainly masculine.
Who carried it
- Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury ("Lord Ashley") (1801–1885): Politician, philanthropist and social reformer; the best-known bearer of the title.
Forms in other languages
Ashlee, Ashleigh, Ashlie
Ashley in letter-number systems
Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.
111
Hebrew Standard
3
Hebrew Ordinal
70
English Simple
420
English Sumerian
92
English Reverse
644
Greek Isopsephy
9
Chaldean
7
Pythagorean
Not Ashley? Look up your own name
The Innerverse reads any name: its language of origin, its roots, who carried it, and how nine letter-number traditions count it.