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 [ 2 syll. as-hley, ash-l-ey ] The girl name Ashley is also used as a boy name, though it is far more popular for girls. It is pronounced AESHLiy KEY. Ashley has its origins in the Old English language and it is used largely in English. The meaning of Ashley is 'ash wood'. Derived from aesc which means 'ash' ; leah which means 'wood, clearing, meadow'. It represents the transferred use of the geographic name and the surname as a given name. See Ashley for more info. Ashley has 22 forms. Forms of the name include Aislaeigh, Ashalee, Ashalei, Ashelei, Asheleigh, Asheley, Ashely, Ashlay, Ashlye, Ashlyn, and Ashlynn (also used in Irish). Other English forms include the short form Ash, the pet forms Asher and Lee, and the spelling variants Ashle, Ashlea, Ashlee, Ashlei, Ashleigh, Ashli, Ashlie, and Ashly. See also the related form, the English Ashlianne. Ashley is very popular as a baby girl name. The name increased in popularity from the 1960s up to the 1980s; prior to that, it was of only sporadic use. Its usage peaked in 1987 with 2.928% of baby girls being named Ashley. It was #2 in rank then. The baby name has experienced a decline in frequency since then. In 2008, it ranked at #18 with a usage of 0.453%, but it was nevertheless the most popular among all girl names in its family. Ashley was used 4 times more than the 2nd most popular name, the English Ashlyn, in 2008. Although Ashley is today more frequently used for girls, there was a period from 1901 to 1963 when more boys were given the name. After 1964, increasingly the name became more popular with girls than with boys. In 1994, 239 times more girls than boys were given the name Ashley. Baby names that sound like Ashley include the English Ashlee, the English Ashli, the English Ashlie, the English Ashly, the English Ashlye, the French Aglaé, the English Aislaeigh, the Hawaiian Akaula, the English Angla, the English Ashlei, the English Ashleigh, the English Asley, the French Axelle, the Spanish Azul, the Indian Achala, the Latinized Aglaea, the English, German, and Russian Aglaia, the German Aglaja, the Russian Aglaya, and the Greek Aglea. Details of famous persons named Ashley: KEY: Pronunciation for Ashley: AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; SH as in "she (SH.IY)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"   |
