Ashleigh
A feminine name of English origin meaning "meadow of ash trees".
Name Census estimates that about 30,733 living Americans carry the first name Ashleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ashleigh today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ashleigh births was 1991 (1,717 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ashleigh. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ashleigh with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ashleigh is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 83 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Ashleigh have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
31K
~ 1 in 11,153 Americans
Peak year
1991
1,717 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2008 SSA rank
#4,768
Tracked since 1966
Census
Ashleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 28,519 people with the first name Ashleigh, which placed it at #1,290 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,290
National first-name rank
People counted
29K
28,519 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ashleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashleigh is White at 76.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.9%) and Hispanic (6.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ashleigh described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ashleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.8% · 21,914
- Black or African American9.9% · 2,812
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 1,757
- Two or more races5.5% · 1,556
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 263
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 217
Gender
Gender distribution for Ashleigh
Out of the 31,927 babies given the name Ashleigh since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Ashleigh as a male name
- Ranked #11,183 in 2008
- 6 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1989 (21 births)
Ashleigh as a female name
- Ranked #4,768 in 2024
- 28 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (1,717 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ashleigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,517 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Ashleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ashleigh from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 13,201 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ashleigh by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ashleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ashleighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Ashleigh, while Vermont, Wyoming, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 586 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ashleigh
The name Ashleigh is an English given name that has its origins in the Old English word "æsc" meaning ash tree, and "leah" meaning meadow or clearing. It was originally a surname derived from a place name, referring to someone who lived near an ash tree meadow or clearing.
In its earliest recorded use, the name Ashleigh was found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a manuscript record of a survey of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. It appeared as a surname, referring to various locations with names like Ashleigh, Ashley, or Ashlee.
The name Ashleigh gained popularity as a given name for girls in the 20th century, likely influenced by its similar sound to the more traditional name Ashley. One of the earliest recorded instances of Ashleigh as a first name was Ashleigh Brilliant, an American author and cartoonist born in 1933.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the first name Ashleigh. Ashleigh Barty, born in 1996, is an Australian professional tennis player and former world No. 1. Ashleigh Murray, born in 1988, is an American actress and singer known for her role as Josie McCoy on the TV series Riverdale.
Ashleigh Cummings, born in 1992, is an Australian actress who has appeared in films and TV shows such as Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and Hounds of Love. Ashleigh Harrington, born in 1985, is a British model and actress who has worked in both the UK and the US.
Ashleigh Gentle, born in 1991, is an Australian professional triathlete who has competed in the Olympics and won multiple World Triathlon Series races. These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the first name Ashleigh throughout history.
People
Ashleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ashleigh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ashleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ashleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30,733 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ashleigh going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 11,153 US residents.
Is Ashleigh a common name?
We classify Ashleigh as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 31,927 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ashleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Ashleigh was 1991, when 1,717 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ashleigh is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ashleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 28,519 people with the name Ashleigh, or 9.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,290 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ashleigh in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ashleigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ashleigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,517 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ashleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashleigh is White at 76.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.9%) and Hispanic (6.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ashleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ashleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.8% (21,914 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ashleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ashleigh a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Ashleigh in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ashleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ashleigh in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ashleigh can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Ashleigh?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Ashleigh, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.