The name "Ashley" /ˈæʃli/ is of English origin, from a place name and surname from the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words 'æsc' (ash) and 'lēah' (meadow, forest clearing).
As a given name, like most surnames turned into first names, Ashley was originally used only for male children. It was first recorded as a male given first/middle name in the 16th century and remained only male until around 350 years later. It was popularized by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury 1621–1683 (also known as Lord Ashley). Uses of the boys' name in popular culture are Ashley Wilkes from 1939's Gone with the Wind and Ash Williams (Ashley James Williams) from the 1982 Film Evil Dead. Ashley in the United Kingdom, where it originated, is predominantly male, ranking at #40 in 1996 for boys and staying within the top 100–300 male names given each year. Ashleigh is the traditional spelling of the female form of the name, with Ashley remaining traditionally male. Although Ashley is sometimes used for u.k females, it has dropped off the top u.k female name charts since 2011.
Ashley gained immense popularity as a female first name in the United States in the late 20th century, outranking boys' usage by the 1980s and reaching #1 for girls' usage in 1991. Its rise in popularity is attributed to the female soap opera character Ashley Abbott on The Young and The Restless in 1982.
Ashley has not appeared in the top American baby boy names since 1994, but is still used 2%–8% of the time depending on year.
As with many names that achieve popularity, a number of spellings of Ashley emerged. The United States Social Security Administration has records of many different spellings, including Ashley, Ashleigh, Ashlee, Ashlie, Ashlyn, and foreign-looking variants such as Ashlé (pseudo-French).
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