​
​
Advanced Search

Waverly

WAVE-er-lee
Locational English surname
"from the quivering meadow"
Sophie Kihm
By Sophie Kihm
Updated Wed Oct 01 2025

Waverly Origin and Meaning

The name Waverly is a boy's name meaning "from the quivering meadow".

Waverly, with its literary resonance and lilting three-syllable sound, could well become the next generation's successor to Kimberly. Although, like Kimberly, it's overwhelmingly catching on for girls. Its cool, bohemian surname feel places it among the new stylish English names for girls, successors to Ashley and Whitney.

Spelled Waverley, this is the title of Sir Walter Scott's popular 1814 novel, whose hero is a young English soldier named Edward Waverley (it's believed that Scott named the novel after the model of pen he used to write it). Spelled the more streamlined way, Waverly is the name of the daughter of Buttercup and Wesley in The Princess Bride and a memorable character in The Joy Luck Club, who was named by her Chinese mother for the San Francisco street on which the family lived.

Waverly Place in Greenwich Village was named for the Scott novel in 1833 – dropping the second 'e', and was the setting of the teen show The Wizards of Waverly Place, as well as Don Draper's bachelor pad in Mad Men and a character on Friday Night Lights.

# 976 in the US

Waverly Rank in US Top 1000

# 2592 on Nameberry

Waverly Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

20 Names Similar to Waverly

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Waverly.

Famous People Named Waverly

  • Waverly Walter Alford III aka King Gordy
    American rapper
  • Waverly Arthur Jackson Jr.
    American NFL football player
  • Waverly David Crenshaw Jr.
    U.S. federal judge
  • Waverly Jack Slattery
    American politician from California

The name Waverly in Pop Culture

  • "Wizards of Waverly Place"
    American Disney Channel show
  • Waverly Earp
    main character on the show Wynonna Earp