Woodley
From Old English meaning "clearing in the woods."
Name Census estimates that about 225 living Americans carry the first name Woodley. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Woodley today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Woodley births was 2023 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Woodley. 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
225
~ 1 in 1,523,353 Americans
Peak year
2023
20 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,208
Tracked since 1918
Census
Woodley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 318 people with the first name Woodley, which placed it at #28,322 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
#28,322
National first-name rank
People counted
318
318 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
67.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Woodley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Woodley is Black at 67.3%. The next largest groups are White (25.8%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Woodley 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 Woodley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American67.3% · 214
- White25.8% · 82
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3
- Two or more races0.9% · 3
Popularity
Woodley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Woodley from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 64 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Woodley 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 Woodley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Woodleys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Woodley
The given name Woodley has its origins in Old English, deriving from the combination of "wudu" (wood) and "leah" (clearing or meadow). This suggests that the name's earliest bearers were likely associated with areas of woodland or forest clearings, potentially referring to their place of residence or occupation.
Woodley can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD. During this time, it was common for people to adopt descriptive names that reflected their surroundings, professions, or physical characteristics.
While no definitive historical references to the name Woodley have been found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is probable that variations of the name existed among the Anglo-Saxon communities of England during the Early Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Woodley can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of landowners and their holdings commissioned by William the Conqueror. This suggests that individuals bearing the name Woodley were present in England during the late 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Woodley. One such person was Sir John Woodley (c. 1550-1618), an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament for St. Albans during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Another prominent figure was Robert Woodley (1690-1768), an English clergyman and author who wrote extensively on theological subjects and served as the rector of various parishes in the 18th century.
In the field of literature, Ralph Woodley (1784-1853) was a British writer and poet known for his contributions to the Romantic movement and his collaborations with notable figures such as William Wordsworth.
Moving into more recent times, Shailene Woodley (born 1991) is a contemporary American actress and activist who has received critical acclaim for her performances in films such as "The Fault in Our Stars" and "Divergent."
Lastly, Woodley Auguste Meritte (1859-1903) was a Haitian painter and artist celebrated for his vibrant depictions of Caribbean life and landscapes, contributing to the development of Haitian art in the late 19th century.
While these are just a few examples, the name Woodley has been carried by individuals from diverse backgrounds and eras, reflecting its enduring presence throughout history.
People
Woodley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Woodley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Woodley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Woodley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 225 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Woodley 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 1,523,353 US residents.
Is Woodley a common name?
We classify Woodley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 275 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Woodley most popular?
The single biggest year for Woodley was 2023, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Woodley is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Woodley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 318 people with the name Woodley, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,322 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 Woodley 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 Woodley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Woodley leans strongly male. 292 people counted with this name were male (92.4%), compared with 24 female bearers (7.6%). 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 Woodley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Woodley is Black at 67.3%. The next largest groups are White (25.8%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Woodley most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Woodley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.3% (214 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 Woodley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Woodley a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Woodley 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 Woodley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Woodley 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 Woodley 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 called Woodley?
Find out how many people have the name Woodley on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.