Bartley
An English diminutive of Bartholomew meaning "furrowed meadow or farm".
Name Census estimates that about 1,168 living Americans carry the first name Bartley. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bartley today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bartley births was 1959 (68 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bartley. 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 Bartley with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 293,454 Americans
Peak year
1959
68 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,945
Tracked since 1886
Census
Bartley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,152 people with the first name Bartley, which placed it at #11,247 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
#11,247
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,152 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bartley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bartley is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Black (3.6%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Bartley 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 Bartley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.4% · 1,064
- Black or African American3.6% · 42
- Two or more races2.7% · 31
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
Popularity
Bartley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bartley from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 399 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bartley 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 Bartley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bartleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, Texas recorded the most babies named Bartley, while Indiana, Illinois, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bartley
The name Bartley is an English given name derived from the Old English words "beorhtra" meaning "brighter" and "leah" meaning "meadow". It essentially translates to "bright meadow" or "bright clearing". The name has its origins in medieval England and was likely used to refer to a bright or sunny meadow or field.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Bartley dates back to the 12th century in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholders in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appeared as a place name, "Bertleia", which was an estate in Staffordshire.
In the 13th century, the name Bartley appeared in the Curia Regis Rolls, which were records of legal proceedings from the royal court of England. This indicates that the name was being used as a personal name during this time period.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Bartley was Sir Bartley de Burleigh, a 14th-century English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. He was born around 1320 and served under King Edward III.
Another notable figure with the name was Bartley Campbell, an English soldier and explorer who was born in 1615. He is known for being one of the first European settlers in the Bahamas and for his role in establishing the colony of Eleuthera.
In the 18th century, Bartley Cushing was a prominent American lawyer, judge, and politician from Massachusetts. He was born in 1701 and served as a member of the Massachusetts General Court and as a judge on the Massachusetts Superior Court.
The name Bartley also has some religious connections. In the 17th century, there was a Bartley Jacobs, an English Puritan minister who was born in 1631 and served as a minister in various churches in England and New England.
Another notable figure was Bartley Gorman, an Irish Catholic priest and writer who was born in 1820. He was known for his work promoting Irish language and culture and for his efforts in establishing Catholic schools in Ireland.
People
Bartley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bartley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bartley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bartley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,168 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bartley 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 293,454 US residents.
Is Bartley a common name?
We classify Bartley as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,933 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bartley most popular?
The single biggest year for Bartley was 1959, when 68 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bartley is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bartley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,152 people with the name Bartley, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,247 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 Bartley 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 Bartley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bartley leans strongly male. 1,134 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 26 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Bartley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bartley is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Black (3.6%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Bartley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bartley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.4% (1,064 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 Bartley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bartley a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bartley in the SSA data are male. 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 Bartley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bartley 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 Bartley 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 Bartley?
Find out how many Americans are named Bartley on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.