Stanly
A masculine name of English origin meaning "stone meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 507 living Americans carry the first name Stanly. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Stanly today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stanly births was 1916 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stanly. 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.
People living today
507
~ 1 in 676,044 Americans
Peak year
1916
25 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2020 SSA rank
#13,775
Tracked since 1912
Census
Stanly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 866 people with the first name Stanly, which placed it at #13,813 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
#13,813
National first-name rank
People counted
866
866 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stanly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stanly is White at 49.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (14.2%). 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 Stanly 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 Stanly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.8% · 431
- Black or African American18.6% · 161
- Hispanic or Latino14.2% · 123
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.9% · 120
- Two or more races2.4% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 10
Popularity
Stanly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stanly from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 178 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stanly 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 Stanly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stanlys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Stanly
The given name Stanly is derived from an Old English word "stan" which means "stone" or "rock". The name was originally used in England, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon period between the 5th and 11th centuries.
The earliest known record of the name dates back to the 9th century, where it appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an annual record of events in Anglo-Saxon England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Stanly, a nobleman who lived in the 10th century and was mentioned in the Domesday Book, a survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
During the Middle Ages, the name became associated with strength and resilience, likely due to its connection with the word "stone". It was particularly popular among the nobility and upper classes in England, with several notable figures bearing the name throughout history.
One of the most famous individuals named Stanly was Sir Stanley, a knight who fought alongside King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War in the 14th century. He was renowned for his bravery and military prowess, and his exploits were recorded in various chronicles and ballads of the time.
Another notable bearer of the name was Sir Thomas Stanly, who served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the late 15th century. He was a trusted advisor to King Henry VII and played a key role in the establishment of the Tudor dynasty in England.
In the 16th century, the name was popularized by Sir Thomas Stanley, who served as Earl of Derby and was a prominent figure in the English Renaissance. He was a patron of the arts and a supporter of the theater, and was known for his love of literature and learning.
During the 17th century, the name was borne by English philosopher and scientist Thomas Stanley, who made significant contributions to the fields of poetry, philosophy, and natural history. He was born in 1625 and is remembered for his translations of ancient Greek and Roman works.
In more recent times, one of the most well-known individuals named Stanly was Sir Henry Morton Stanley, the famous Welsh-American explorer and journalist who is best known for his expeditions to Africa and his search for the missionary David Livingstone. He was born in 1841 and died in 1904.
People
Stanly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stanly as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Stanly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stanly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 507 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stanly 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 676,044 US residents.
Is Stanly a common name?
We classify Stanly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 966 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stanly most popular?
The single biggest year for Stanly was 1916, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stanly is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stanly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 866 people with the name Stanly, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,813 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 Stanly 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 Stanly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stanly leans strongly male. 857 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 9 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Stanly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stanly is White at 49.8%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (14.2%). 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 Stanly most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stanly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.8% (431 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 Stanly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stanly a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Stanly 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 Stanly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stanly 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 Stanly 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 Stanly as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Stanly on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.