Boy · Old English place name
Wesley
Say it: WES-lee
Meaning
From an English surname, from a place name meaning 'western clearing'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Taken up by Methodists in honour of John and Charles Wesley from the late 1700s.
Its wave through time
Timeless: in steady use for over a century
In the United States
- 226,139 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1977, about 1 in 382 boys
- 3,763 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.