Asbury
Masculine
Asbury is a surname that American families turned into a first name in honor of one man: Francis Asbury, the first Methodist bishop in the United States, who spent his life on horseback carrying his church into the backcountry. A seaside town in New Jersey carries the name for the same reason.
How old is the name Asbury?
Asbury was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Asbury alive today was born around 1922, making them about 103 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Asbury are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Asbury most popular?
Asbury peaked in 1881, reaching #533 nationally. See the whole 1881 chart.
Where it comes from
From æsc or ēast + burh to Asbury
The story of Asbury
Francis Asbury came from the English Midlands to the American colonies as a young Methodist preacher and never went home. He rode the circuits of the frontier for the rest of his life, preaching thousands of sermons, sleeping in cabins and covering distances usually reckoned in the hundreds of thousands of miles, and he became the first Methodist bishop in the new country. Methodist families named sons Francis Asbury, and Asbury alone became a given name. On the New Jersey shore, a developer founded Asbury Park in his honor as a dry resort, next to a Methodist camp meeting.
Meaningscholars disagree
a fortified place by an ash tree or to the east
Asbury is an English place-name and surname ending in burh, a fortified place. The first element is read either as æsc, ash tree, or as ēast, east, and the surviving spellings do not settle it.
How the name formed
- æsc or ēast + burh
- Asbury
- Francis Asbury
- Asbury
Pronouncing Asbury
AZ-bair-ee
Stress on the first syllable. The middle is often said -ber- or -bree, and the s is usually voiced as a z.
Nicknames for Asbury
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191722 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #533reached in 1881
- Change vs 1966
- 0.0%5 in 1979, from 5
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.
Asburys among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Asbury are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Asbury sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It carries a clear, documented American namesake.
- It is almost never given now, so it is truly distinctive.
- It sounds like a traditional surname and fits easily in a full name.
- Many people know it first as the New Jersey town and its music scene.
- Its strong Methodist history may matter, one way or the other, to the family.
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Asbury
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Asburys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Asbury are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Asbury in 2025?
- Asbury is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Asbury with classmates?
- Asbury will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
Anthony#46 · Andrew#73 · Alexander#30 · Aaron#80 · Adam#101 · Arthur#87 · Albert#614 · Austin#113
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Asbury? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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