Hanley
From an English surname meaning "high meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 707 living Americans carry the first name Hanley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 71.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Hanley today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hanley births was 2014 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hanley. 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 Hanley with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
707
~ 1 in 484,801 Americans
Peak year
2014
53 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,540
Tracked since 1913
Census
Hanley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 749 people with the first name Hanley, which placed it at #15,378 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
#15,378
National first-name rank
People counted
749
749 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hanley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hanley is White at 63.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Hanley 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 Hanley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.7% · 477
- Hispanic or Latino21.8% · 163
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 46
- Black or African American4.4% · 33
- Two or more races3.1% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Hanley
Hanley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 923 total registrations, 660 (71.5%) were male and 263 (28.5%) were female.
Hanley as a male name
- Ranked #8,540 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (36 births)
Hanley as a female name
- Ranked #12,592 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hanley on both sides of the split. Of the 753 people counted with this name, 500 were male (66.4%) and 253 were female (33.6%).
Popularity
Hanley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hanley from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 419 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
Hanley 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 Hanley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hanleys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hanley
The name Hanley is an English given name with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to have originated as a locational surname, referring to someone who hailed from the town of Hanley in Staffordshire, England. The name Hanley itself is derived from the Old English words "hana" meaning "rooster" and "lea" meaning "meadow" or "clearing," thus suggesting a connection to a meadow or clearing where roosters were found.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hanley can be traced back to the Domesday Book of 1086, which listed a landowner named "Henricus de Hanleia" in Staffordshire. This indicates that the name was already in use as a locational surname in the late 11th century.
In the 13th century, a man named Hanley de Faucomberge was mentioned in historical records as a prominent landowner and knight from Yorkshire. He was known for his participation in the Barons' War against King Henry III in the 1260s.
Another notable figure bearing the name Hanley was Sir Robert Hanley, who lived in the 15th century and served as a Member of Parliament for Staffordshire during the reign of King Henry VI. He played a role in the Wars of the Roses, supporting the Yorkist cause.
During the English Renaissance period, a poet and playwright named John Hanley (c. 1575-1640) gained recognition for his works, including the play "The Marriage of the Arts." He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare and is believed to have influenced the literary scene of that era.
In the 18th century, a British naval officer named Sir Samuel Hanley (1733-1798) distinguished himself during the American Revolutionary War. He commanded several ships and participated in notable battles against the French and Spanish fleets.
As the name Hanley transitioned into modern times, it continued to be associated with notable individuals. For instance, James Hanley (1901-1985) was a renowned British novelist and playwright whose works explored themes of social realism and working-class life in the early 20th century.
While the name Hanley has origins in England and has been primarily used in the English-speaking world, it has also found its way into other cultures and languages through migration and cultural exchange. However, the historical roots and connections to the town of Hanley in Staffordshire remain an integral part of the name's rich heritage.
People
Hanley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hanley 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
Hanley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hanley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 707 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hanley 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 484,801 US residents.
Is Hanley a common name?
We classify Hanley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 923 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hanley most popular?
The single biggest year for Hanley was 2014, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hanley is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hanley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 749 people with the name Hanley, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,378 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 Hanley 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 Hanley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hanley on both sides of the split. Of the 753 people counted with this name, 500 were male (66.4%) and 253 were female (33.6%). 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 Hanley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hanley is White at 63.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Hanley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hanley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.7% (477 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 Hanley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hanley a male name?
Yes, 71.5% of people registered as Hanley 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 Hanley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hanley 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 Hanley 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 named Hanley?
Want to know how many people share the name Hanley? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.