Burley
Masculine · “the clearing by the fort”
Burley is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,310 boys against 40 girls since 1880.
Burley and burly are not the same word and neither one came from the other. Burley is an English place, a fort and a clearing joined, which traveled into use as a surname. Burly, the adjective, is a separate Middle English word whose own parentage is unsettled. They simply land in the same place when spoken, and the ear cannot tell them apart.
How old is the name Burley?
Burley was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Burley alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 700 people named Burley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Burley most popular?
Burley peaked in 1884, reaching #547 nationally. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Burley to Burley
The story of Burley
The word has a second American life that most people meet first. In 1864 a farmer in southern Ohio planted tobacco seed brought over from Kentucky, and the seedlings came up pale rather than green: a chance variation nobody had been breeding for and nobody could repeat on purpose. The pale leaf cured light and absorbed flavouring in a way the dark leaves would not, and within a generation White Burley was the backbone of the American blended cigarette. It is the same word as the name, reached from the same English place, and for well over a century it has been the first association most Americans have. The name is older on this side of the Atlantic than the tobacco is, but that has never helped it much.
Meaning
the clearing by the fort
Old English burh, a fortified place, with the common element meaning a wood or clearing. Several Burleys exist across England, which is why the surname is scattered rather than tied to one family. The adjective burly is unrelated and its origin is genuinely uncertain.
How the name formed
- Burley
- Burleigh
Pronouncing Burley
BUR-lee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. It is said identically to the adjective burly, and no pronunciation distinguishes them.
Nicknames for Burley
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
- 192158 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #547reached in 1884
- Change vs 2014
- +16.7%7 in 2020, from 6
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.
Burleys among us
people named Burley are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Burley 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 is short, plain and completely easy to say on first meeting.
- Burl works as a short form without being invented for the purpose.
- It belongs to the surname-name tradition that is currently in favor.
- Burly is heard first and will always be heard first, whatever the spelling says.
- The tobacco association is strong in the United States and hard to shift.
- The spelling is recorded for a few girls, but nearly every child with it is a boy.
- The generation that made it common is now very old.
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Burley
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Burleys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Burley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Burley in 2025?
- Burley is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Burley with classmates?
- Burley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Brian#339 · Benjamin#11 · Brandon#261 · Bryan#336 · Bruce#536 · Billy#1068 · Bobby#1097 · Bradley#403
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Burley? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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