Whitlee
Feminine · “white clearing”
Whitlee is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 930 girls against 13 boys since 1880.
Whitlee is a respelling of Whitley, an English place-and-family name from a landscape: a white clearing, most likely one where the trees were pale or the ground chalky.
How old is the name Whitlee?
Whitlee first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Whitlee is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Whitlee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Whitlee most popular?
Whitlee peaked in 2024, reaching #3013 nationally. Today it ranks #3211, 198 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hwit leah to Whitlee
The story of Whitlee
Several English places are called Whitley, and families took the name from them when surnames fixed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The surname crossed to America early. Its move into girls' given names is recent and belongs with Kinsley, Everly and Brinley — the -ley group that American naming has favored for two decades. The -lee respelling is the newest layer and changes nothing you can hear.
Meaning
white clearing
From Old English hwit, white, and leah, a clearing in woodland; the same leah closes Ashley, Bradley and Shirley, and the same hwit opens Whitby and Whitfield.
How the name formed
- hwit leah
- Whitley
- Whitlee
Related forms: Whitley · Whitely
Pronouncing Whitlee
WIT-lee
Two syllables, first stressed. The h is silent for most American speakers.
Nicknames for Whitlee
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
- 1988
- Most girls named
- 202355 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3013reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −9.3%49 in 2025, from 54
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.
Whitlee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Whitley in English — spelling variant
- Whitely in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Tennessee, Missouri.
Whitlees among us
people named Whitlee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 32,801 born in 2025 was named Whitlee
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 Mireille test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Whitlee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mireille climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mireille's path sketches the road Whitlee is walking now.
Whitlee 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 Whitlee is headed
Whitlee 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.
Whitlee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Whitlee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented English place-name meaning drawn from a real landscape.
- Two syllables and an obvious pronunciation for any English speaker.
- Whit is a short, distinctive form that carries into adult life.
- Whitley is the standard spelling and will be written for her regularly.
- The silent h is dropped in speech and added back in writing, which causes confusion both ways.
- It sits in a crowded group of -lee girls' names and may sound of its decade.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Whitlee 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 Whitlee? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Whitlee
Feminine · #3211 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Whitlees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Whitlee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Whitlee in 2025?
- Whitlee ranks #3211 among US girl names in 2025, with 49 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Whitlee?
- About 1 in every 32,801 US girls born in 2025 was named Whitlee — 49 in all.
- Will my child share the name Whitlee with classmates?
- Whitlee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Whitlee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kristine#3211 · Jalaya#3211 · Gladys#3211 · Amyah#3211 · Dhara#3211 · Janelly#3211 · Dariela#3211 · Quetzalli#3211
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Whitlee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Whitlee 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