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 [ 2 syll. bra-dley, br-adl-ey ] The boy name Bradley is pronounced BRAEDLiy KEY. Bradley is of Old English origin and it is used mainly in English. Bradley's meaning is 'broad clearing'. Derived from brad 'broad' ; leah 'wood, clearing, meadow'. The place name has been taken up as a surname and subsequent first name since the 19th century. In literature, it has appeared as the name of Bradley Headstone in Charles Dicken's last novel Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865). It has sometimes been bestowed in honor of the US General Omar Nelson Bradley (1893-1981), one of the key commanders during World War II. Variants of Bradley include Bradlee (English) and Brady (English and Irish). The short form Brad (English), the pet form Lee (English), and the spelling variants Bradleigh (English) and Bradly (English) are other forms of the name. Bradley is popular as a baby name for boys. The name's popularity grew from the 1900s up to the 1980s. At the modest height of its usage in 1980, 0.389% of baby boys were named Bradley. It ranked at #51 then. The baby name has since experienced a decline in popularity. In 2008, it ranked at #201 with a usage of 0.090%, but it was nevertheless the 2nd most popular after Brady (English and Irish), within all boy names in its group. The name was twice as popular as Bradley in 2008. Baby names that sound like Bradley include Bradlee (English), Bradly (English), Bartal (Hungarian), Bartel (Dutch, English, and German), Barthel (German), Bartle (Irish), Bartley (Irish), Bartol (German), Bertel (German), Bertil (Scandinavian), Bradleigh (English), Bartoli (Spanish), Bartolo (Italian), Bàrtolo (Italian), and Bartolommeo (Italian). A famous person named Bradley is Bradley Cooper, Actor, born 5 January 1975, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. KEY: Pronunciation for Bradley: B as in "be (B.IY)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"   |
