How Many People Are Named Whitley?
An estimated 8,260 people in the United States have the first name Whitley. It is predominantly female (91.1%). The average bearer is 19 years old, and Whitley peaked in popularity in 1988 with 521 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Whitley as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Whitley paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- Whitley has undergone a significant gender shift. Originally given predominantly to boys, it is now more commonly a girls' name.
Estimated Living Americans
8,260
About 1 in 41,496 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Female
91.1% confidence
Average Age
19
years old
Peak Year
1988
521 births
Total Registered
8,482
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Whitley
Whitley is predominantly female (91.1%), though 755 male births have been registered. It functions as a unisex name for a small percentage of bearers.
Whitley as a male name
Ranked #2,004 in 2024
77 male births in 2024
Peak: 2023 (79 births)
Whitley as a female name
Ranked #682 in 2024
417 female births in 2024
Peak: 1988 (508 births)
Whitley: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Whitley span from the 1910s to the 2020s, covering 11 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2010s, when 2,311 babies were registered. Whitley remains highly popular today, with recent registration numbers near its historical peak.
Whitley by Decade
How has Whitley tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Whitley by State
Birth registrations for Whitley span all 35 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in Texas, Georgia, Kentucky. The lowest are in Connecticut, Colorado, Oregon. On average, about 180 Whitleys were registered per state.
Whitley + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Whitley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Whitley
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
Whitley: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Whitley?
We estimate approximately 8,260 people named Whitley are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 41,496 Americans share this first name.
Is Whitley a common name?
Whitley is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 97.4% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 8,482 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Whitley most popular?
Whitley reached peak popularity in 1988, when 521 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Whitley is approximately 19 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Whitley a female name?
Whitley is predominantly female. 91.1% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Whitley Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Whitley Smith, Whitley Johnson, Whitley Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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