Lesley

Derived from a Scottish place name and clan in Aberdeenshire, likely tracing to Gaelic terms meaning garden of holly. Long established as a masculine given name in Britain, it migrated into American ledgers in the late nineteenth century. By the mid-twentieth century, American parents turned heavily toward it for daughters, particularly favoring this spelling variant.

The name reads as someone who grew up clarifying the spelling on standardized tests. It carries the distinct texture of 1980, between corduroy skirts and library card catalogs. The average bearer is forty-six years old and unlikely to encounter another one in the room. She has spent decades explaining that it ends in an e-y.