Ashley is an English surname and place name that means "ash tree clearing" or "ash meadow". It was a boys' name for centuries, as with Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, before American parents turned it into one of the great girls' names of the 1980s and 90s. Ashley ranked fourth in the United States in 2000, stayed in the top 100 until 2015 and ranks 164th in 2025.