Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Stanley?
Births per year, rank history and how many Stanleys are alive today.
Stanley (male) is currently the 97th most popular boys' name in England and Wales, with 536 babies given the name in 2025. The name peaked in 1904, when around 6,500 babies were given the name, the 23rd most popular that year. Stanley's popularity is double-peaked: strongest in the 1920s, having dropped out of the published rankings in between, with a second wave in the 2010s. Numbers have been falling in recent years. At least 200,000 babies have been named Stanley in England and Wales since 1904. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
The Stanley you are most likely to meet is around 11 years old - or else around 80: the name has two living generations. Half of all Stanleys born in England and Wales are between 14 and 78, and there are at least 42,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's roughly a 13% chance that at least one of them will be called Stanley.
How many babies are named Stanley each year?
Where does Stanley rank among boys' names?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Stanley most popular?
Stanley peaked in 1904, when around 6,500 babies in England and Wales were given the name.
How many people are called Stanley?
At least 42,000 people named Stanley born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Stanley?
Most living Stanleys are between 14 and 78; the most common age is about 11. There is a second cluster around 80.
Is Stanley becoming more or less popular?
Recovering: it has climbed back after a dip in the rankings.