Name Awesome

Finlay

#2,614 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Fair warrior/hero

Finlay has been given to 1,306 babies in the U.S. since 1918. In 2025 it ranked #2,614 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2015, with 64 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 84% boys, 16% girls all-time.

Babies named Finlay, 2025

1 in 66,300

Finlay over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Finlay over time

In 2025, Finlay went to 14% girls and 86% boys.

19182025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Finlay: meaning, origin, and history

Fair warrior/hero

surname transfer

What Finlay means

Finlay means “fair warrior/hero”, associated with Fionnlagh.

Origin, language, and formation

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

Finlay comes through Scottish Gaelic Fionnlagh.

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

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Finlay is pronounced /ˈfɪnli/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,102 boys were recorded with the name Finlay between 1918 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 64 in 2015; its best national rank was #2,154 in 2015.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,561 in 2020 to #2,614 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,154 in 2015 to #2,614 in 2025.

In the United States, 204 girls were recorded with the name Finlay between 2004 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 19 in 2017; its best national rank was #6,359 in 2017.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #10,536 in 2020 to #11,254 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #10,371 in 2015 to #11,254 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Finlay?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 66,300
50 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 34,200
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,614
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
45,959 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Finlay 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 2025 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 45,959 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Finlay. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Finlays were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Finlay was born before 2015 — so the typical Finlay is around 10 today.

Median birth year
2015
About 10 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
40.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
96.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,096
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 40.5% of all recorded uses (446).

Is Finlay 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
−130
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−53
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−460
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.78×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
78.1%
Peak was 2015 (64)
Years since peak
10
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,154
2015

Spellings of Finlay

Finlay is not the most common spelling — Finley is, with 69.6% against Finlay's 4.0%.

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 Finlay is used

Across 1910–2025, Finlay was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 363,981 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 100,000
  2. 2Florida1 in —
  3. 3Illinois1 in —
  4. 4Massachusetts1 in —
  5. 5Maryland1 in —
  6. 6New York1 in —
  7. 7Pennsylvania1 in —
  8. 8Texas1 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. Finlay has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Finlay around the world

Where Finlay 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
    1996–2025
    #175
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2025
    #9
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2001–2025
    #149
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2002–2025
    #372
    in 2025
  • France
    1999–2021
    #3,850
    in 2021
  • Canada
    1995–2024
    #756
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1975–2013
    #389
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Finlay by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,614
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 53
Best rank ever
#2,154
2015
Peak year
2015
64 that year
First recorded
1918
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,102
Count in 2025
50

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#11,254
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 718
Best rank ever
#6,359
2017
Peak year
2017
19 that year
First recorded
2004
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
204
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Finlay

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

FindlayFinianFinneasFintanFinnickFinnanFinleeFinniganFinnianFinanFindleyFinnleeFinnleyFinnlayFinchFinnlyFinisNikolayFinleyKlayFinbarFinneanBarclayNilay

Sibling names for Finlay

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 Finlay

Top names of 2015, Finlay's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2015Boys' names starting with F