Name Awesome

Morley

UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Moor + wood

Morley has been given to 566 babies in the U.S. since 1909. 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 1918, with 19 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 92% boys, 8% girls all-time.

Babies named Morley, 2008

1 in 655,000

Morley over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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

In 2024, Morley went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19092024

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.

Morley: meaning, origin, and history

Moor + wood

surname transfer

What Morley means

Morley means “moor + wood”, associated with mor and leah.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Old English mor (“moor”) + leah (“wood”). Equivalent to moor + -ley (“lea”).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

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

Morley comes through Old English mor.

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

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 518 boys were recorded with the name Morley between 1909 and 2008. Its highest annual count was 19 in 1918; its best national rank was #1,621 in 1909.

In the United States, 48 girls were recorded with the name Morley between 1925 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 8 in 2021; its best national rank was #4,307 in 1925.

How common is Morley?

Morley had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2008, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2008
1 in 655,000
6 of 3,930,727 births
Among boys only
1 in 340,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2008
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
454,097 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Morley 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 2008 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 454,097 children born in 2008 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Morley. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Morleys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Morley was born before 1930 — so the typical Morley is around 95 today.

Median birth year
1930
About 95 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
30.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
1.2%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
69
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 30.7% of all recorded uses (159).

Is Morley 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 1918 (19)
Years since peak
107
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
26.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,621
1909

Spellings of Morley

Morley is not the most common spelling — Corey is, with 58.8% against Morley's 0.16%.

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 Morley is used

Across 1910–2025, Morley was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 933,143 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Michigan1 in —
  3. 3New York1 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. Morley has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Morley around the world

Where Morley 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
    2000–2025
    #3,684
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1994–2023
    #2,436
    in 2023

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Morley 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
#1,621
1909
Peak year
1918
19 that year
First recorded
1909
Last recorded
2008
All-time count
518
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,307
1925
Peak year
2021
8 that year
First recorded
1925
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
48
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Morley

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

RawleySeeleyMoritzMordcheMorgenMoroniHanleyParleyMorrieRenleyHaileyMoroccoRipleyBexleyKenleyMoreyWrigleyBrileyAinsleyAtleyAdleyMorrellMorseRidley

Sibling names for Morley

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 Morley

Top names of 1918, Morley's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1909Boys' names starting with M