Chadley
An English masculine name possibly derived from Chad and the suffix -ley.
Name Census estimates that about 385 living Americans carry the first name Chadley. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Chadley today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chadley births was 1983 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chadley. 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 Chadley with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
385
~ 1 in 890,271 Americans
Peak year
1983
25 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2012 SSA rank
#11,025
Tracked since 1962
Census
Chadley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 370 people with the first name Chadley, which placed it at #25,584 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
#25,584
National first-name rank
People counted
370
370 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chadley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chadley is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (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 Chadley 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 Chadley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.2% · 304
- Black or African American7.3% · 27
- Two or more races6.2% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 4
Popularity
Chadley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chadley from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 179 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chadley 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 Chadley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chadleys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chadley
The name Chadley is a relatively modern invention, with no clear roots in any ancient language or culture. It is believed to have originated as a combination of the names Chad and Dudley in the English-speaking world, likely in the late 19th or early 20th century.
The name Chad itself is a shortened form of the name Chadwick, which is derived from the Old English words "cead" meaning "wealth" and "wic" meaning "dwelling." Dudley, on the other hand, is an English surname that originated from the town of Dudley in the West Midlands region of England.
There are no known historical references to the name Chadley in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. The earliest recorded examples of the name appear to be from the mid-20th century, but it remained relatively uncommon until more recent times.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Chadley was Chadley James, an American singer and songwriter born in 1948. He was active in the country music scene in the 1970s and 1980s, releasing several albums and charting singles.
Another notable bearer of the name is Chadley Foster, an American professional wrestler born in 1967. He wrestled under the ring name Chadley Foster in various independent promotions throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
In the literary world, Chadley Wilmont is the name of a fictional character in the novel "The Whisper of Stars" by Nick Jones, published in 2012. The character is a young man navigating the challenges of growing up in a small town.
Chadley Benbrook was an American entrepreneur and businessman born in 1952. He founded several successful companies in the technology and software industries, and was known for his innovative approach to business.
Lastly, Chadley Masterson was a British artist and sculptor born in 1928 and died in 2002. He was known for his abstract metal sculptures and installations, which were exhibited in galleries and public spaces throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.
People
Chadley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chadley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Chadley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chadley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 385 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chadley 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 890,271 US residents.
Is Chadley a common name?
We classify Chadley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 412 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chadley most popular?
The single biggest year for Chadley was 1983, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chadley is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chadley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 370 people with the name Chadley, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,584 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 Chadley 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 Chadley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chadley leans strongly male. 342 people counted with this name were male (92.9%), compared with 26 female bearers (7.1%). 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 Chadley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chadley is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (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 Chadley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chadley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.2% (304 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 Chadley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chadley a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chadley 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 Chadley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chadley 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 Chadley 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 common is the name Chadley?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.