Radley
Masculine · “red meadow”
Radley is given to both — 1,597 boys and 134 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Radley is the red clearing, or the clearing where reeds grow — an English place name whose first element is genuinely ambiguous.
How old is the name Radley?
Radley first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Radley is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,600 people named Radley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Radley most popular?
Radley peaked in 2024, reaching #1573 nationally. Today it ranks #1826, 253 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From read leah to Radley
The story of Radley
Radley in Oxfordshire has a public school founded in 1847 and a name recorded before the conquest. The surname came from the place. Its use as a given name is recent, part of the wide surname-name movement of the 2010s alongside Ridley and Hadley, and it appears in the registers in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
red meadow; reed clearing
From the Old English leah, 'wood' or 'clearing', with a first element read either as read, 'red', or hreod, 'reed'. Radley in Oxfordshire is documented from the tenth century. The leah element is settled; the first is not, and both readings are given.
How the name formed
- read leah
- Radley
Related forms: Radleigh · Ridley
Pronouncing Radley
RAD-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Radley and Radleigh are said identically.
Nicknames for Radley
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
- 1956
- Most boys named
- 2024110 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1573reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −20.9%87 in 2025, from 110
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.
Radley in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Radleigh in English — spelling variant
- Ridley in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Utah.
Radleys among us
people named Radley are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 19,633 born in 2025 was named Radley
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 Pieter test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Radley's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pieter climbed just as high around 1967, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pieter's path sketches the road Radley is walking now.
Radley 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 Radley is headed
Radley looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 31% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Radley beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Radley in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete and belongs to a very large family of English place names.
- Lee is available as a short form with an enormous record.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The first element is genuinely disputed between red and reed.
- A well-known novel gives the surname to a reclusive character.
- Hadley and Ridley are close enough to cause confusion.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Radley to the vote.
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What they receive
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Radley
Masculine · #1826 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Radleys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Radley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Radley in 2025?
- Radley ranks #1826 among US boy names in 2025, with 87 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Radley?
- About 1 in every 19,633 US boys born in 2025 was named Radley — 87 in all.
- Will my child share the name Radley with classmates?
- Radley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Radley
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Charley#1826 · Jaysen#1826 · Darell#1826 · Vladimir#1826 · Azaire#1826 · Mylan#1826 · Oziah#1826 · Raghav#1826
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Radley? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Radley and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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