​
​
Advanced Search

Finlay

Irish and Scottish
"fair-haired hero"
Grace Royal
By Grace Royal
Updated Tue Sep 30 2025

Finlay Origin and Meaning

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

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.

# 786 on Nameberry

Finlay Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Popularity of the name Finlay

20 Names Similar to Finlay

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

Famous People Named Finlay

  • Finlay MacMillan
    Scottish actor
  • Finlay Bealham
    Australian,Irish rugby union player
  • Finlay Jefferson Currie
    Scottish actor
  • Finlay Wild
    Scottish fell runner
  • Finlay McQuistan
    Scottish WWI flying ace
  • Carlos Finlay
    epidemiologist in the 1800's

The name Finlay in Pop Culture

  • Finlay Richter
    character in novel "The One Apart" by author Justine Avery