Given name & surname
Handley
“from the high meadow”
Handley is a variant of Hanley. One English interpretation is “from the high meadow.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Handley is a variant of Hanley. One English interpretation is “from the high meadow.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Handley is a variant of Hanley. An origin associated with Hanley is English.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1923. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Handley through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 6
- 6 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1923
- 6 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 6 in 1923. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 9,158 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Handley’s family of names
Handley has a related form in Hanley.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Handley
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Handley, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Harwood
“from the hare's forest”
>99% boys
Oakey
“from the oak-tree grove”
>99% boys
Morley
“woman from the moor” · “from the meadow on the moor”
92% boys · 8% girls
Meril
“of the shining sea”
87% boys · 13% girls
Holmes
“from the river island”
>99% boys
Irven
“a triend of the sea”
>99% boys
Murvin
“a friend of the sea”
>99% boys
Lindburg
“from the linden tree hill”
>99% boys