embrisa.
embrisa.
Theme
Feminine

Kinsley

/ˈkɪnz.li/

King's meadow

Old English

How to say it

KINS · ley

/ˈkɪnz.li/

What it means

Old English place name, from cyning ('king') + lēah ('meadow'). Kingsley is the masculine spelling; Kinsley is its feminine-leaning American variant.

Kinsley is a variant of Kingsley, an Old English place name meaning 'king's meadow' (cyning + lēah). Kingsley has been a masculine first name in English since the 19th century (Charles Kingsley wrote The Water-Babies in 1863). The Kinsley spelling is mostly American, and the shift dropped the explicit 'king' for a softer sound; it picked up as a feminine name in the 2010s. The Kinsey name is a separate root (from Old English cynehēa, 'royal victory'). Kinsley entered the US top 200 in 2014. Kins and Kinsy are rare shorts.

Popularity over time

#10 #100 #1000 #1 #970318802025

peaked at #57 in 2021, currently #93 in 2025.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving

Heads-up notes

  • Spelling

    Kinsley is the dominant US feminine spelling; Kingsley with the G is the older masculine form (Ben Kingsley, Kingsley Shacklebolt in Harry Potter).

Who's worn it

Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.

  • Ben Kingsley British actor, Gandhi (Oscar) and Sexy Beast (Kingsley as surname/stage name)

Spelling variants

  • Kingsley
  • Kinslee
  • Kinsleigh