Hartley is an English surname and place name from the Old English heorot and leah, meaning "stag clearing" or "deer meadow". Long a boys' surname name, it has shifted toward girls in the United States in the wake of Harley, Hadley and Harlow. Hartley has not yet reached the US top 1000 for girls, but it climbed from number 1930 in 2020 to number 1453 in 2025, its best rank so far.