In 2025, 278 US boys were named Stanley, making it the 863rd most common boys’ name of the year, up 7 places from #870 in 2024. That is 0 more than the 278 boys named Stanley in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #34, reached in 1917. The most boys given the name in a single year was 6,448, in 1954. For comparison, it was #692 in 2015 and #60 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Stanley in every one of the 146 years from 1880 to 2025; in 1880 there were 65 babies with the name. In all, 302,862 US babies have been given the name, 0.5% of them girls and 99.5% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1950s, with 57,366 babies named Stanley.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 3,271 US boys were named Stanley; the busiest of those years was 2019, with 377. In 2025 that was about 1 in 6,144 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Stanley ranked highest in Michigan in 2025, at #515 for boys there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Related spellings in the SSA files include Stan (8,480 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Stanly and Stanlee are summarised on this page. The open nickname list we use links it to Stan.