Ainslee
Feminine · “Ægen's clearing”
Ainslee is a respelling of Ainslie, a Scottish surname taken from an English place — one of the small ironies of border naming, where families moved and their names traveled with them.
How old is the name Ainslee?
Ainslee first appears in US birth records in 1985 — 40 years ago. The typical Ainslee is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,600 people named Ainslee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ainslee most popular?
Ainslee peaked in 2017, reaching #2144 nationally. Today it ranks #3296, 1,152 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Annesley to Ainslee
The story of Ainslee
There are places called Annesley and Ansley in Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire, and a family that took one of those names moved north to the Scottish borders in the twelfth century, where it became Ainslie. The surname is firmly Scottish now despite its English origin. Its move into given names is recent and largely for girls, and the -lee respelling belongs to the same fashion that produced Kinslee and Everlee.
Meaningscholars disagree
Ægen's clearing
The place name behind the surname is generally read as an Old English personal name, Ægen or Anne, with leah, a woodland clearing. Which personal name is meant is not settled, and a reading giving the first element as a word for a hermit has also been offered.
How the name formed
- Annesley
- Ainslie
- Ainslee
Related forms: Ainslie · Ansley
Pronouncing Ainslee
AYNZ-lee
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Ainslee
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1985
- Most girls named
- 201789 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2144reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- +14.6%47 in 2025, from 41
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ainslee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ainslie in Scots — spelling variant
- Ansley in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Indiana, Ohio.
Ainslees among us
people named Ainslee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 34,197 born in 2025 was named Ainslee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rudy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ainslee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rudy climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rudy's path sketches the road Ainslee is walking now.
Ainslee sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ainslee is headed
Ainslee is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ainslee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ainslee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented place-name meaning behind a very current sound.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Lee is a plain short form that carries into adult life.
- Ainslie is the standard Scottish spelling and Ansley the common American one; this is neither.
- It sits in a very crowded group of -lee girls' names.
- Ainsley, Ansley and Ainslee are all in use and she will spell hers aloud.
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Ainslee
Feminine · #3296 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ainslees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Ainslee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ainslee in 2025?
- Ainslee ranks #3296 among US girl names in 2025, with 47 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ainslee?
- About 1 in every 34,197 US girls born in 2025 was named Ainslee — 47 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ainslee with classmates?
- Ainslee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ainslee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Neva#3296 · Aleyda#3296 · Kaylor#3296 · Nalia#3296 · Anyeli#3296 · Izabel#3296 · Esmee#3296 · Rhoda#3296
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ainslee? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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