Hadlea
A feminine name of modern English origin, meaning uncertain, potentially a combination of "heather" and "lea".
Name Census estimates that about 92 living Americans carry the first name Hadlea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hadlea today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hadlea births was 2015 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hadlea. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hadlea. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
92
~ 1 in 3,725,591 Americans
Peak year
2015
15 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2021 SSA rank
#11,470
Tracked since 2003
Popularity
Hadlea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hadlea from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 68 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hadlea 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 Hadlea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hadlea
The name Hadlea is believed to have its origins in the ancient Germanic languages, emerging sometime around the 5th century AD. It is thought to be derived from the Old High German words "hadu" meaning "battle" and "lēa" meaning "meadow" or "clearing." Thus, the name may have initially referred to a clearing or meadow where battles or skirmishes took place.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hadlea can be found in the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century manuscript containing fragments of a Gothic translation of the Bible. The name appears as "Hadleia" and is associated with a minor figure mentioned in the text.
In the 8th century, a Frankish noblewoman named Hadlea is mentioned in the Royal Frankish Annals, a contemporary chronicle of the Carolingian dynasty. This historical record suggests that the name had gained some prominence among the Frankish aristocracy during this period.
During the Middle Ages, the name Hadlea seems to have been relatively uncommon, but it did appear sporadically in various records and chronicles. One notable bearer of the name was Hadlea of Regensburg, a 12th-century Benedictine abbess who oversaw the construction of a new monastery in the city of Regensburg, Germany.
In the 15th century, a Dutch painter named Hadlea van der Goes was active in the city of Ghent. Though little is known about her life, several of her works, including religious paintings and portraits, have survived to this day and are held in various art collections across Europe.
Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, Hadlea Emerson was an American writer and abolitionist born in 1825 in Massachusetts. She was a vocal supporter of the anti-slavery movement and published several works advocating for the abolition of slavery and the rights of African Americans.
While the name Hadlea has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has been borne by individuals from various backgrounds and cultures, each leaving their mark in different fields and endeavors.
People
Hadlea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hadlea as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hadlea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hadlea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 92 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hadlea 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 3,725,591 US residents.
Is Hadlea a common name?
We classify Hadlea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 93 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hadlea most popular?
The single biggest year for Hadlea was 2015, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hadlea is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Hadlea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hadlea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hadlea 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 Hadlea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hadlea 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 Hadlea 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Hadlea?
Want to know how many people share the name Hadlea? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.