Kingsley
Masculine · Old English roots · “King's wood or king's clearing”
Kingsley is given to both — 6,709 boys and 2,165 girls since 1880. See Kingsley as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kingsley began as English ground — wooded clearings in Cheshire, Hampshire and Staffordshire that were recorded as the king's land, and villages that still carry the name. From there it did what many English place-names did: became a family surname, then a first name given to sons. It arrives in the mouth in two clean beats, KINGZ-lee, with the same -ley ending that Bradley and Wesley share.
How old is the name Kingsley?
Kingsley first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Kingsley is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 6,300 people named Kingsley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kingsley most popular?
Kingsley peaked in 2016, reaching #584 nationally. Today it ranks #1095, 511 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Kingsley appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From cyning + lēah (Old English) to Kingsley
The story of Kingsley
The name is a place before it is a person. Several English villages called Kingsley — in Cheshire, Hampshire and Staffordshire — appear in medieval records as the king's lēah, a clearing or grazing wood held by the crown. Families who came from those places took the name with them, and by the nineteenth century Kingsley was an established English surname; from there it crossed into use as a given name, in the Victorian fashion for surnames on sons. It traveled well through the English-speaking world, and is notably well used in Anglophone West Africa, especially Nigeria and Ghana, where it has been a common boys' name for generations.
Meaning
King's wood or king's clearing
From Old English cyning, 'king', and lēah, a woodland clearing or meadow — the same lēah that ends dozens of English place-names.
How the name formed
- cyning + lēahOld English
- Kingesleaplace-name
- KingsleyEnglish surname
- Kingsleygiven name
Pronouncing Kingsley
KINGZ-lee
Stress on the first syllable. The s sounds like a z. There is no real variation in English.
Nicknames for Kingsley
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
- 1907
- Most boys named
- 2016473 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #584reached in 2016
- Change vs 2023
- −31.5%196 in 2025, from 286
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.
Kingsley in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Kingsleys among us
people named Kingsley are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 8,715 born in 2025 was named Kingsley
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 Beryl test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kingsley's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Beryl climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Beryl's path sketches the road Kingsley is walking now.
Kingsley 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 Kingsley is headed
Kingsley is easing off slowly — about 22% 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.
Kingsley beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kingsley in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds, from two pieces almost everyone already knows: king and -ley.
- The short form King works as a nickname and stands alone as a given name, so a boy has a real second option.
- Long documented history as an English place-name and surname, so it is not a recent coinage.
- In steady use across the English-speaking world, including Nigeria and Ghana, where it is well established.
- The king inside it is audible, and the nickname King leans further that way. Some families like that; others find it a lot to hand a small boy. Worth saying aloud a few times before you decide.
- Its bearers in the US are overwhelmingly young, so for now the name reads as belonging to this generation of children rather than to men of every age.
- Because it is still much better known as a surname, expect the occasional pause — people asking whether it is a first name or a last name, and sometimes hearing Kingston instead.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kingsley to the vote.
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What they receive
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Kingsley
Masculine · Old English roots · #1095 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kingsleys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,300 people named Kingsley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kingsley in 2025?
- Kingsley ranks #1095 among US boy names in 2025, with 196 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kingsley?
- About 1 in every 8,715 US boys born in 2025 was named Kingsley — 196 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kingsley with classmates?
- Kingsley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kingsley
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ayman#1095 · Mael#1097 · Brendan#1097 · Bobby#1097 · Rami#1097 · Kit#1097 · Turner#1097 · Dimitri#1097
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kingsley? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kingsley and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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