Halley

Meaning of Halley

Halley, a feminine appellation rooted in Old English topography—derived from hæg (enclosure, hedge) and lēah (clearing, meadow)—initially functioned as a surname before acquiring personal-name status within Anglo-American usage. Its cultural resonance derives in part from the 17th-century British astronomer Edmond Halley, eponym of the periodic comet that bears his name and which has conferred an association of cyclical return and celestial prominence upon the given name. Pronounced HAL-ee (/ˈhæli/), Halley has exhibited a trajectory of sporadic adoption in the United States since the early twentieth century—with intermittent single-digit occurrences and occasional absence from the annual top-1,000 lists through the 1910s to the 1950s—before emerging more steadily in the late 1970s, achieving a peak of 333 recorded newborns (rank 506) in 1986, and settling into a pattern of modest revival in recent years, as evidenced by 63 occurrences (rank 887) in 2024. This pattern attests to a name that, while uncommon, sustains appeal for its blend of pastoral etymology, scholarly heritage, and understated distinction within contemporary naming conventions.