Finley (name)

Finley is a given name. Its meaning is of Scottish origin, from the Gaelic personal name Fionnlagh (Old Irish Findlaech), composed of the elements fionn "white", "fair" (see Finn) + laoch "warrior", "hero", which seems to have been reinforced by an Old Norse personal name composed of the elements finn "Finn" + leikr "fight", "battle", "hero".

Finley is a popular given name both in the US and the UK. In the US it is more common for girls (it ranked 279 most common name for boys),^[1] but in the UK it is primarily a male name ranking the 35th most common boy name in 2016.^[2]

Finley is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:

Surname

• Asa Finley (1788–1853), first elected judge of Arrow Rock, Missouri, 1824
• Bob Finley (1915–1986), American baseball catcher
• Brian Finley (born 1981), Canadian ice hockey player
• Charles O. Finley (1918–1996), American businessman and former owner of the Oakland A's
• Chuck Finley (born 1962), American baseball pitcher
• Clement Finley (1797–1879), 10th Surgeon General of the United States Army
• Diane Finley (born 1957), Canadian politician
• Doug Finley (1946–2013), Canadian politician
• Evelyn Finley (1916–1989), American actress and stuntwoman
• Gerald Finley (born 1960), Canadian bass-baritone opera singer
• James Finley (engineer) (1756–1828), American judge and bridge designer
• James Finley (minister) (1725–1795), American Presbyterian minister
• James Bradley Finley (1781-1856), United States Methodist elder and minister
• Jeffrey Finley (born 1991), Canadian football player
• Jermichael Finley (born 1987), American football tight end
• Joe Finley (born 1987), American ice hockey player
• Joe B. Finley (1924–2011), American rancher and educator
• John Huston Finley (1863–1940), American educator
• John Park Finley (1854–1943), American meteorologist and Army officer; tornado researcher
• Karen Finley (born 1956), American performance artist
• Lucinda Finley (born 1950), American professor and attorney appellant
• Michael Finley (born 1973), American basketball player
• Mitch Finley (born 1945), American religious writer
• Moses I. Finley (1912–1986), American and English historian
• Reginald Vaughn Finley Sr. (born 1974), American internet radio host and atheist
• Robert Finley (1772–1817), American academic, minister and co-organizer of the colonization movement to Liberia
• Ron Finley, American fashion designer
• SaJason Finley, (born 1983) American College Performance Coach
• Samuel Finley (1715–1766), American Presbyterian minister and prominent academic
• Steve Finley (born 1965), American baseball center fielder
• William Asa Finley (1839–1912), first president of Oregon State University in the United States
• William L. Finley (1876–1953), ornithologist and conservationist in the U.S. state of Oregon
• William Finley (actor), American film actor

Given name

• Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936), American writer and humorist
• Finley Lockwood (born 2008), daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Lockwood
• Finley Quaye (born 1974), Scottish musician
• Finley Graham-Males, British businessman

References