Knightley
- Gender
- Girl
- Say it
- NYTE-lee
- Origin
- English
- US rank, 2025
- #14,937 for girls
Knightley is a girls' name of English origin, meaning “knight's clearing”. In 2025 it ranked 14,937th for girls in the US (5 babies).
What does Knightley mean?
English: English surname, Old English cniht 'knight, servant' + leah 'clearing'
“knight's clearing”
Mr Knightley is the hero of Jane Austen's novel Emma (1815).
Is Knightley a girl's or a boy's name?
Knightley is a girls' name. In 2025, it was given to 5 girls in the US. Too few boys were given it to be listed.
How popular is Knightley in the US?
- Rank in 2025
- 14,937th among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 5 about 1 in 320,000 girls
- Five-year trend
- Too rare to call too few babies to tell
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 5 girls in the US were named Knightley, making it the 14,937th most popular name for girls. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 8,948th. Its busiest year was 2021, with 13 girls. It first appears in the records in 2009.
2025 had fewer girls named Knightley than any year since 2016.
Half of all the girls named Knightley in the US since 1880 were born between 2015 and 2022, the years shaded on the chart below.
Knightley in the US, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #14,937 |
| 2024 | 7 | #12,156 |
| 2023 | 7 | #12,192 |
| 2022 | 9 | #10,377 |
| 2021 | 13 | #8,019 |
| 2020 | 11 | #8,948 |
| 2019 | 9 | #10,467 |
| 2018 | 10 | #9,801 |
| 2017 | 6 | #14,120 |
| 2016 | 0 | – |
| 2015 | 8 | #11,830 |
| 2014 | 9 | #10,949 |
| 2013 | 7 | #13,145 |
| 2012 | 0 | – |
| 2011 | 0 | – |
| 2010 | 0 | – |
| 2009 | 6 | #15,236 |
Names like Knightley
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Kenley, Kinley, Kinsley, Wrenley, Sevyn, Briar, Brynlee, Kaisley, Finley, Rynlee, Kensley, Teagan
More English names
Lily, Evelyn, Hudson, Ivy, Harper, Grace, Violet, Willow, Daisy, Poppy, Riley, Oakley, Mason, Cooper, Ruby, Hallie
Sources
Figures from Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Knightley: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/knightley, updated 20 October 2026.