Given name & surname
Yardley
“from the fenced-in meadow”
Yardley is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the fenced-in meadow.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “from the fenced-in meadow.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
How it developed
From Old English gerd (“stick, rod”), built from English yard + -leigh (“lea”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1968. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Yardley through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 206
- 99 boys · 107 girls
- Most popular year
- 1989
- 14 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 girls is 7 in 2021. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 347 as a first name in 2020; 2,262 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.
Yardley’s family of names
Yardley has a related form in Yardlea. Yardley has a related form in Yardlee. Yardley has a related form in Yardleigh.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 14
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Yardley, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Halley
“from the hall near the meadow”
>99% girls
Carley
“from the farmer's meadow”
>99% girls
Whitley
“from the white meadow”
15% boys · 85% girls
Gardenia
“resembling the sweetsmelling flower”
>99% girls
Raven
Raven is used as a given name and a surname. Interpretations include “resembling the black bird; a dark and mysterious beauty” (English) and “resembling the blackbird; a dark and mysterious man” (English). These may reflect different naming traditions.
5% boys · 95% girls
Star
“a celestial body” · “a celestial body; as bright as a star”
4% boys · 96% girls
Shelley
“from the bank's meadow” · “from the meadow's ledge”
>99% girls
Holly
“of the holly tree”
>99% girls