Given name & surname · also Old English
Hedley
“from the meadow of heather”
Hedley is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the meadow of heather.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “from the meadow of heather.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Old English.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1922. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Hedley through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 13
- 13 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1922
- 7 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 1925. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 7 in 1922. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 107 as a first name in 2020; 754 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.
Hedley’s family of names
Hedley has a related form in Hadley. Hedley has a related form in Headley. Hedley has a related form in Healy.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 16
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Hedley
- Hedley BullAustralian academic (1932-1985)
- Hedley VerityEnglish cricketer (1905-1943)
- Hedley Herbert FinlaysonAustralian zoologist (1895–1991)
- Hedley HowarthNew Zealand cricketer (1943-2008)
- Hedley Francis Gregory BridgesCanadian politician (1902-1947)
- Hedley MattinglyBritish actor (1915-1998)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Hedley, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Morley
“woman from the moor” · “from the meadow on the moor”
92% boys · 8% girls
Harwood
“from the hare's forest”
>99% boys
Holmes
“from the river island”
>99% boys
Mansfield
“from the field near the small river”
>99% boys
Boswell
“from the spring near the forest”
>99% boys
Sherwood
“from the bright forest”
>99% boys
Hernley
“from the heron's meadow”
>99% boys
Glade
“from the meadow in the C woods” · “from the clearing in the woods”
>99% boys