Oakley

How to say it

/ˈoʊk.li/

What it means

English place name from Old English ac ('oak') + leah ('clearing, meadow'). Originally a surname. Annie Oakley the sharpshooter (Annie Get Your Gun, 1946) and the Oakley sunglasses brand anchor different cultural surfaces.

Oakley is an English place name from the Old English āc ('oak') + lēah ('clearing, meadow'), giving 'oak meadow.' Common across England as both a village name and a surname. Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey, 1860-1926), the American sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and was immortalized in the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1946, film 1950), is the deepest English-language anchor through the surname. The Oakley sunglasses brand (founded 1975 in California) gives the commercial reference. As a US first name Oakley is modern and unisex, basically post-2010. It entered the US top 500 in 2018. Common short: Oak.

Heads-up notes

• Pop culture

  Annie Oakley (sharpshooter, 1860-1926) is the deepest English-language anchor; the Oakley sunglasses brand gives the commercial cue parents notice in the background.

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.

• Annie Oakley American sharpshooter, Buffalo Bill's Wild West, 1860-1926

Spelling variants

• Oakleigh
• Oaklee

Names with the same feeling

• Everleigh Ever-meadow
• Hadley Heather meadow
• Presley Priest's meadow
• Kinsley King's meadow
• Harper Harp player

See Oakley from another angle