Hensley
Feminine · “stallion's clearing”
Hensley is given to both — 2,038 girls and 179 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Hensley is the stallion's clearing — the Old English hengest, a horse, the same word as Hengist, who legend says led the first Saxons into Britain.
How old is the name Hensley?
Hensley first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Hensley is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,000 people named Hensley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hensley most popular?
Hensley peaked in 2020, reaching #1105 nationally. Today it ranks #2064, 959 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hengest leah to Hensley
The story of Hensley
Bede reports that Hengist and Horsa led the first Saxon settlement of Britain, and both names mean a horse — which has made historians suspect they are figures of legend rather than record. Hensley is an English place name and surname. It entered American given-name use recently, chiefly for girls, and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
stallion's clearing
From the Old English hengest, 'stallion' or 'gelding', and leah, 'wood' or 'clearing'. A second reading takes the first element as a personal name. Hengist and Horsa, the legendary Saxon leaders, are both named for horses. The leah element is settled; the first is not.
How the name formed
- hengest leah
- Hensley
Related forms: Hensleigh · Hensly
Pronouncing Hensley
HENZ-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. All the spellings of the sound are said identically.
Nicknames for Hensley
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
- 1995
- Most girls named
- 2020221 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1105reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- +11.0%91 in 2025, from 82
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.
Hensley in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hensleigh in English — spelling variant
- Hensly in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Tennessee, Georgia.
Hensleys among us
people named Hensley are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 17,662 born in 2025 was named Hensley
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 Alix test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hensley's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alix climbed just as high around 1993, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alix's path sketches the road Hensley is walking now.
Hensley 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 Hensley is headed
Hensley is easing off slowly — about 33% 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.
Hensley beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hensley in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the legendary founders of Saxon England are both named for horses is a first-rate fact.
- Lee is available as a short form with an enormous record.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It reads unmistakably as a surname.
- The first element is genuinely disputed.
- The Hen clipping is unfortunate in English.
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What they receive
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Hensley
Feminine · #2064 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hensleys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Hensley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hensley in 2025?
- Hensley ranks #2064 among US girl names in 2025, with 91 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hensley?
- About 1 in every 17,662 US girls born in 2025 was named Hensley — 91 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hensley with classmates?
- Hensley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hensley
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Abilene#2064 · Annabel#2064 · Nylani#2064 · Edie#2064 · Ryla#2064 · Annaliese#2064 · Devora#2064 · Bobbie#2064
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hensley? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hensley and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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