Hurley
Derived from the Old English word "hyrr" meaning a herdsman or protector.
Name Census estimates that about 1,200 living Americans carry the first name Hurley. It is a predominantly male name (97.1% of registrations). The average person named Hurley today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hurley births was 1919 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hurley. 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 Hurley with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Hurley is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 78 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 285,629 Americans
Peak year
1919
54 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,553
Tracked since 1881
Census
Hurley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,125 people with the first name Hurley, which placed it at #11,406 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
#11,406
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,125 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hurley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hurley is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Black (27.4%) and Hispanic (5.5%). 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 Hurley 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 Hurley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.7% · 660
- Black or African American27.4% · 308
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 62
- Two or more races5.3% · 60
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Hurley
Hurley leans heavily male at 97.1% of total registrations, but 78 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hurley as a male name
- Ranked #8,553 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1919 (54 births)
Hurley as a female name
- Ranked #16,587 in 2018
- 5 female births in 2018
- Peak: 2009 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hurley leans strongly male. 1,018 people counted with this name were male (89.9%), compared with 114 female bearers (10.1%).
Popularity
Hurley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hurley from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 407 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hurley 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 Hurley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hurleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Hurley, while Missouri, Alabama, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 53 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hurley
The name Hurley is an English given name that originated from the Old English words "hyr" meaning "meadow" and "leah" meaning "wood". It was initially a surname referring to someone who lived near a meadow or woodland area. The name can be traced back to the 11th century, with early recorded spellings including Hurleye and Hurle.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hurley appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive survey of England and Wales commissioned by William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book listed several individuals with the surname Hurley, indicating that the name was already in use during the Norman period.
In terms of historical references, the name Hurley is not prominently featured in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, it is worth noting that during the Middle Ages, the name was commonly associated with landowners and individuals of some social standing.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Hurley was Sir John Hurley, an English courtier and landowner who lived during the 15th century. He served as a member of the Privy Council under King Henry VII and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses.
Another individual of historical importance was Thomas Hurley, an English Protestant martyr who was executed during the reign of Queen Mary I in 1556 for his religious beliefs. His death is recorded in John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, a famous work that documented the persecution of Protestants in England.
In the 17th century, Edward Hurley was a prominent English artist known for his landscape paintings and etchings. He was a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists and exhibited his works at the Royal Academy.
Moving forward to the 19th century, John Hurley was an Irish-born businessman and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the textile industry and donated a significant portion of his wealth to establish educational institutions and support charitable causes in Ireland.
Another notable figure was Patrick Hurley, an American soldier and diplomat who served as the United States Secretary of War under President Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. He was also involved in peace negotiations during World War II.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the given name Hurley. While not an exhaustive list, it highlights the name's presence across various periods and contexts.
People
Hurley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hurley 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
Hurley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hurley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,200 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hurley 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 285,629 US residents.
Is Hurley a common name?
We classify Hurley as "Rare". It ranks above 91.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,659 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hurley most popular?
The single biggest year for Hurley was 1919, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hurley is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hurley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,125 people with the name Hurley, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,406 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 Hurley 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 Hurley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hurley leans strongly male. 1,018 people counted with this name were male (89.9%), compared with 114 female bearers (10.1%). 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 Hurley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hurley is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Black (27.4%) and Hispanic (5.5%). 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 Hurley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hurley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.7% (660 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 Hurley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hurley a male name?
Yes, 97.1% of people registered as Hurley 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 Hurley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hurley 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 Hurley 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 have the name Hurley?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Hurley on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.