Emily writes:
Adley. There is a girl on The Voice with this name. I like it but I don’t know about the rest of the public. What do you think?
It ought to work. Madison opened up the way for Addison; Madelyn made Adelyn more appealing; and I’ve heard people mentioning Ayla now that we’ve gotten used to Kayla. The name Hadley is increasing in popularity (according to the Social Security Administration, it went from #921 in 2000 to #216 in 2010—and that doesn’t count spellings such as Hadleigh and Hadlee and Hadlie), so Adley seems like a natural next step.
And in fact, in 2010 there were 79 new baby girls named Adley, 50 named Adleigh, and 20 named Adlee. (A few more were named Addley and Addlee, but for me that brings to mind the word “addled,” so I’d stick to one D.) Another 18 were named Atlee and Atleigh. And 17 were named Atalie—perhaps helped by the popularity of Natalie. I also found 123 named Adalee, 82 named Adalie, and 38 named Adaleigh, but I’m not sure if that’s Ada-lee or Adda-lee.
The nickname Addy will be both a selling point and a deal-breaker: some people will be looking for another way to get the nickname, and others will think it’s unfortunate that she’ll get lumped in with all the other Addys.
Let’s have a poll over to the right to see what everyone thinks of it. [Poll closed; see results below.]
Poll results for “What do you think of the name Adley?” (356 votes total):
I love it! I’d want to use it! – 10 votes (3%)
I like it! I’d want to consider it! – 47 votes (13%)
I like it for someone else’s baby – 127 votes (36%)
No particular opinion – 28 votes (8%)
Slight dislike – 112 votes (31%)
Strong dislike – 32 votes (9%)
It doesn’t seem like a whole name to me. It’s a cute nickname, but I feel like there’s something missing.
I’m not of the ‘we’ll only give the baby the name we’re going to actually call her’ (ie Kate, not Katherine) school of thought, though. I think it would work nicely for people who are.
I agree with Jessica, I feel like it’s missing something, like Hadley, Bradley etc. I almost feel naked when I say it as it feels like it should begin with a consonant!
agree with others–doesnt seem like a full name. I want to say it Adaley (which I actually think is kind of pretty!)
I had my Adleigh Claire in 2010! I had never heard the name before, but my husband found it in a baby name book and we both loved it! It’s now so fitting for our sweet little daughter…couldn’t imagine any other name for her! :)
I’m not a fan, but then I’m also not a fan of Hadley either, just not my style. On a separate but related note, I was at Chuck E Cheese and saw another “headless” name (as another blog called it) that I thought was interesting, if not my style – Anielle (as in, Danielle without the D). I wonder what other plausible names could be made this way – any other name spottings?
I did a quick check on the name. Per SSA records, in 2010, 148 baby girls received one of three spellings of the name:
Adley 78
Adleigh 50
Adlee 20
And 20 boys were named Adley.
Adley is an Old English surname: http://www.houseofnames.com/Adley-history?A=54323-292 Another website said there are 662 people in the United States with the surname Adley.
It seems that Adley is yet another surname being used as a “new” name. It seems to be the kind of name that could catch on eventually, make its way into the SSA Top 1000 and climb the chart.
To me it sounds like someone with a very stereotypical cockney accent saying “Hadley”. Like, “‘ello there Govn’r, ‘ere’s Miss ‘Adley for ya.”
We named our first child Adelay in 2005, referring to her most often as Addy when she was small. While her given name is definitely unusual, there are lots of variations of the “Ad-” genre that sound very similar. At school, in fact, she goes by Adelay only because there are so many little Addys running around. Most often it seems to be short for Addison, but we’ve run into several Adalines and Adeleighs as well.
I still love her name, though, and I commented both to tell you of our daugher’s very similar name, in case you like it as an option, and to also say that we often call her Adley as a nickname, since the commonness of Addy has become slightly annoying to me- it’s the new Abby! :) So I think Adley is very pretty either as a stand alone first name or a nickname option to work off of.
I just happen to know both an Adley and Adlee (the 2nd being a combination of family names, hence the -lee ending). The first time I heard it, I thought exactly the same thing as the first commenters…Hadley? No, no “h”. It does feel like a too-short version of a real name to me…like “I like Hadley but want to be different.” Actually I think the same thing about Adalyn…Madelyn or its other spellings feel like the “real” name. Sorry, just my 2 cents.
I love Adlai on a boy.
I just see the word addled, but I know that isn’t the first association for most people :)
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/addled
Also, “Adleigh” is Hebrew for “my ornament”…which we thought was really sweet.
My husband and I having been using “Adley” as a nickname for our daughter, Adelaide. Her name is a family name and kind of old-fashioned so we thought it needed a more modern nickname.