The name Finlay is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "fair-haired hero".

Irish Names

Irish Names for Boys

6 Letter Boy Names

Names Ending in Y for Boys

Names That Mean Hero

Two Syllable Names for Boys

Animal Names for Boys

Names that end in y

Irish Names that Start With F

The Top Scottish Names You Never Hear

Finlay is a Scottish royal name: it belonged to Macbeth's father, Finlay MacRory--or Findlaech mac Ruaidri--that has a bit of a split personality. It has two acceptable spellings--Finlay and Finley, the first more popular in its native Scotland, where it ranks in the Top 10, the second in the US. It is also becoming more and more unisex in the States, with the Finley spelling now split between girls and boys, while Finlay was used last year for TEN TIMES as many boys as girls, about 50 to only five.

 Increasingly popular on the celebrity circuit, the splits are evident here too. Amanda Pays and Corbin Bernsen, and Sadie Frost have boys named Finlay, Chris O'Donnell and Holly Marie Combs have sons called Finley, and Lisa Marie Presley, Daniel Baldwin, and Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn have daughters named Finley; the latter couple were instrumental in making the gender switch in 2003.

Names That are Uniquely Popular in Scotland

Star and Planet Names

Scottish Baby Names

Gender-Neutral Celebrity Baby Names

Boy Names Like Finn

Space Baby Names

Nameberry's Favorite Boy Names

Alternatives to Ryan

Nameberry's Favorite Names

Scottish Boy Names 

Nature Names for Babies

Irish Boy Names (with Meanings)

Scottish Last Names

Nature Cat Names

Names With Lots of Spellings

Finlay

Irish

Nameberry

England

scotland

The name Finlay is a girl's name meaning "fair-haired hero".

6 Letter Girl Names

Names Ending in Y for Girls

Two Syllable Names for Girls

Finlay is a Scottish royal name (it belonged to Macbeth"s father) that was revived by several celebrity parents who did a gender switch when they used it for their daughters. Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn, Daniel Baldwin and Lisa Marie Presley all named their daughters Finley. 

This is an interesting name in that different spellings have very different gender divides. The most popular form, Finley, is one of the most truly gender-neutral names today, used for about 1200 baby girls and 1200 boys in the US last year. Finlay, meanwhile, was used for TEN TIMES as many boys as girls, 50 to 5.

Tipping in the girls' direction are Finlee, used for about twice as many girls as boys, and Finleigh, which currently is exclusively female.

White Dog Names

Nature Names for Girls

Finley

Finlay

Finlay Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Popularity of the name Finlay

20 Names Similar to Finlay

Famous People Named Finlay

The name Finlay in Pop Culture

The name Finlay in Nameberry Blog Posts

More Lists containing Finlay

Advanced Search

Find your type.