Kingsley
Kingsley was the 1096th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 196 babies. Its best year was 2016, when it ranked 584th with 473 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 345 places. More babies were named Kingsley in the 2010s than in any other decade.
Meaning king's wood or clearing · English, Old English
Say it KINGZ-lee /ˈkɪŋzli/
- Rank in 2025
- #1,096 boys, down 468 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 196boys
- Girls and boys
- 37% girls, 63% boys2021–2025
- Peak year
- 2016473 babies
- Total since 1880
- 8,874babies recorded
What does the name Kingsley mean?
Kingsley is an English surname from several places named Kingsley, from Old English cyninges 'king's' and lēah 'wood, clearing', so 'the king's wood'. The Victorian writer Charles Kingsley made the surname well known, and the British novelist Kingsley Amis is a famous bearer of it as a first name. In the US it has recently been used for both boys and girls.
cyning (Old English, “king”)lēah (Old English, “wood, clearing”)
How sure is this? Well established.
Related names: Kinsley, King, Kingston.
See also: English names, names that mean meadow, hill or valley, names from places.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Kingsley', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (our computation), SSA (public domain)
Nicknames for Kingsley
The usual nicknames for Kingsley are King. Some parents skip the long form: for every 100 boys named Kingsley in the last five years, 472 were named King, against 299 twenty years earlier.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Boys, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| King · also for Kingston | Modern | #405 | 6,789 |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are boys given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Kingsleys go by each one.
Kingsley popularity since 1880
| Year | Rank (girls) | Rank (boys) | Babies (girls) | Babies (boys) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #1,719 | #1,096 | 119 | 196 |
| 2020 | #1,051 | #628 | 238 | 429 |
| 2010 | #3,493 | #982 | 46 | 201 |
| 2000 | — | #2,711 | — | 34 |
| 1990 | — | #2,584 | — | 26 |
| 1980 | — | #3,521 | — | 12 |
| 1970 | — | #2,687 | — | 13 |
| 1960 | — | #3,218 | — | 8 |
| 1950 | — | #2,272 | — | 12 |
| 1940 | — | #2,406 | — | 10 |
| 1930 | — | #3,163 | — | 8 |
| 1920 | — | #2,395 | — | 13 |
| 1910 | — | — | — | — |
| 1900 | — | — | — | — |
| 1890 | — | — | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — | — | — |
How popular is Kingsley, counting every spelling?
Kingsley is the most common spelling of a name family that ranked #1,009 for boys in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #1,096 for Kingsley on its own. Together these spellings went to 207 boys in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingsley | 196 | #1,096 | 1,437 |
| Kingslee | 11 | #7,447 | 80 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Kingsley?
196 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Kingsley (0.05 per 1,000 births). For a boy named Kingsley born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 43 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Kingsley.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Kingsley?
About 6,200 people born in the US named Kingsley are alive today, with a median age of 10; half are between 6 and 15. That makes Kingsley a young name: most people with it are children.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Kingsley by state
How common Kingsley was among boys born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Maryland (2.0×), Louisiana (1.6×). It is least common, relative to the national rate, in Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Kingsley: their share of US boys followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Kingsley, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Kingsley · Sibling names for Kingsley
Questions about the name Kingsley
What does Kingsley mean?
Kingsley means “king's wood or clearing” (English, Old English origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Kingsley?
Kingsley was the 1096th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 196 babies. Its best year was 2016, when it ranked 584th with 473 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 345 places. More babies were named Kingsley in the 2010s than in any other decade.
Is Kingsley a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, 37% girls, 63% boys given the name Kingsley in the US.
Where is Kingsley most popular?
In 2021–2025, Kingsley was most common in Hawaii (0.77 per 1,000 boys), followed by Maryland and Louisiana.