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Farley

Boys' name

Fern + woodland

Farley has been given to 1,097 babies in the U.S. since 1884. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1952, with 39 recorded.

Babies named Farley, 2024

1 in 334,000

Farley over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Farley: meaning, origin, and history

Fern + woodland

surname transfer

What Farley means

Farley means “fern + woodland”, associated with fearn and lēah.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Old English fearn (“fern”) + lēah (“woodland”). Equivalent to fern + -ley (“lea”) and doublet of Farnley.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Farley (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Farley is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Farley comes through Old English fearn.

Farley is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Farley is pronounced /ˈfɑɹli/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,080 boys were recorded with the name Farley between 1884 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 39 in 1952; its best national rank was #1,023 in 1884.

In the United States, 17 girls were recorded with the name Farley between 1974 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2024; its best national rank was #9,181 in 1974.

How common is Farley?

Farley had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 334,000
10 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only
1 in 172,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
231,706 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Farley sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2024 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 231,706 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Farley. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Farleys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Farley was born before 1956 — so the typical Farley is around 69 today.

Median birth year
1956
About 69 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
28.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
2.4%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
739
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 28.6% of all recorded uses (309).

Is Farley rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1952 (39)
Years since peak
73
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
43.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,023
1884

Spellings of Farley

Farley is not the most common spelling — Harvey is, with 36.7% against Farley's 0.31%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Farley is used

Across 1910–2025, Farley was most concentrated in Kentucky — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 1,035,188 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Kentucky1 in 100,000
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3New York1 in —
  4. 4Ohio1 in —
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in —
  6. 6Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Farley has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Farley around the world

Where Farley ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1999–2025
    #2,440
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2016–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1961–1986
    #460
    in 1986

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Farley by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,023
1884
Peak year
1952
39 that year
First recorded
1884
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
1,080
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#9,181
1974
Peak year
2024
7 that year
First recorded
1974
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
17
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Farley

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

FareedFarhanFaresFaridFarrisFarrenFarazRipleyKenleyFaroukFarhadBrileyFarrelFaronRidleyHenleyRadleyParleyHanleyFarronFarisFarzadHadleyRawley

Sibling names for Farley

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Farley

Top names of 1952, Farley's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1884Boys' names starting with F