Finlay
2025 SSA
2025 SSA
About Finlay
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.
Finlay for boys#2614 US
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.
Finlay for girls#11258 US
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.
Pronounced FIN-lay.
As of October 2026, Finlay ranked #2614 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #2154 in 2015, Nameberry popularity #698.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #3,252 | 34 | 17.7 |
| 2015 | #2,154 | 64 | 33.4 |
| 2016 | #2,345 | 56 | 29.5 |
| 2017 | #2,327 | 56 | 30.3 |
| 2018 | #2,399 | 55 | 30.3 |
| 2019 | #3,117 | 38 | 21.2 |
| 2020 | #2,562 | 50 | 29 |
| 2021 | #2,470 | 54 | 30.9 |
| 2022 | #2,728 | 48 | 27.5 |
| 2023 | #2,664 | 49 | 28.6 |
| 2024 | #2,478 | 55 | 31.9 |
| 2025 | #2,614 | 50 | 29.3 |
World rankings
Finlay for boys
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Finlay on lists
Famous Finlays
- Finlay MacMillanBoy
Scottish actor
- Finlay BealhamBoy
Australian,Irish rugby union player
- Finlay Jefferson CurrieBoy
Scottish actor
- Finlay WildBoy
Scottish fell runner
- Finlay McQuistanBoy
Scottish WWI flying ace
- Carlos FinlayBoy
epidemiologist in the 1800's
Finlay in pop culture
- Finlay RichterBoy
character in novel "The One Apart" by author Justine Avery
- Finlay "Fin" RobertsGirl
character on Australian soap "Home and Away"