Preslee
Feminine · Old English roots · “priest's meadow or clearing”
Preslee is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 3,717 girls against 63 boys since 1880.
Preslee comes from an old English place-word: a priest's clearing, the kind of wooded meadow that gave families their surnames a thousand years ago. That surname traveled to America, became a first name, and then picked up the -lee ending shared by Hadlee, Rylee and Kaylee. Three syllables' worth of history, spelled the modern way.
How old is the name Preslee?
Preslee first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Preslee is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,700 people named Preslee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Preslee most popular?
Preslee peaked in 2012, reaching #1089 nationally. Today it ranks #1500, 411 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Where it comes from
From prēost + lēah (Old English) to Preslee
The story of Preslee
The source is an English place name and then a surname, built from prēost and lēah — the clearing that belonged to the priest. Families who lived at such a place carried the name to America, where Presley became familiar far beyond England, most of all through Elvis Presley. Like many surnames, it crossed to first-name use, and once there it met the American habit of respelling a final -ley as -lee. Preslee is that respelling: an old word for a patch of ground, dressed in a spelling that only appears in the last few decades of American records.
Meaning
priest's meadow or clearing
From Old English prēost, 'priest', and lēah, a woodland clearing or meadow — the same lēah that ends Ashley, Bradley and Hadley.
How the name formed
- prēost + lēahOld English
- PresleyEnglish surname
- Presleygiven name
- Preslee
Pronouncing Preslee
PREZ-lee
Stress on the first syllable. The s sounds like a z, exactly as in the surname Presley.
Nicknames for Preslee
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
- 1990
- Most girls named
- 2014231 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1089reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- +25.7%142 in 2025, from 113
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.
Preslee in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Tennessee.
Preslees among us
people named Preslee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,319 born in 2025 was named Preslee
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 Cristie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Preslee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Cristie climbed just as high around 1974, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Cristie's path sketches the road Preslee is walking now.
Preslee 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 Preslee is headed
Preslee should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Preslee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Preslee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The -lee ending is instantly readable aloud — most people say it correctly on first sight, even if they need the spelling repeated.
- Built on a surname with a documented thousand-year record in English place names.
- Sits comfortably beside the familiar Hadlee, Rylee and Kaylee family of spellings.
- Offers ready short forms — Pres and Lee — one of them a standing name in its own right.
- The default spelling in most people's heads is Presley. Expect to spell it out for forms, teachers and coffee cups for life, and expect the occasional Presleigh guess too.
- The -lee respelling marks the name to a narrow recent window, so it reads as clearly of its moment rather than timeless — worth knowing if you would rather a name gave no clue to its era.
- The Presley surname carries one very large association in American ears. Some hear Elvis immediately; others never make the connection at all.
- US records show this spelling on girls, while Presley itself is given to both boys and girls. A Preslee will be read as a girl almost everywhere.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Preslee to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Preslee? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Preslee
Feminine · Old English roots · #1500 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Preslees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,700 people named Preslee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Preslee in 2025?
- Preslee ranks #1500 among US girl names in 2025, with 142 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Preslee?
- About 1 in every 11,319 US girls born in 2025 was named Preslee — 142 in all.
- Will my child share the name Preslee with classmates?
- Preslee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Preslee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nashly#1500 · Kapri#1500 · Joselyn#1500 · Kianna#1500 · Jenny#1500 · Constance#1500 · Zhuri#1500 · Ayzal#1500
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Preslee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Preslee and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle