Finley/Finlay

[RachelS86]

Lying in hospital bed in middle of lonnnng induction and my mind has turned to names. we have 3 on our short list one of which is Finley but just wondering what the correct/ most traditional spelling of it is as both. Spellings seem quite popular! Xx

I work in a school and we have a boy called Finley and another boy called Finlay. Finley pronounces the 'ley' as 'lee' and Finlay pronounces the 'lay' as 'lay'. So would imagine it all comes down to how you want it pronounced.

I have an ey version if that helps! We pronounced it fin lee so ey made more sense to us.

You do get all kinds of spellings from others though, eg Findlay?!

Finley is the more common spelling (#34 in the name charts for England and Wales in 2011; 2,245 babies). Finlay was #66, with 967 babies called that.

Some other variants you might like:

Finn - #136 (469 babies)
Fintan - #944 (30 babies)
Finnian - #958 (29 babies)
Findlay - #999 (27 babies)
Finnegan - #2194 (9 babies)
Findley - #2613 (7 babies)
Finton - #2613 (7 babies)
Finbar - #2892 (6 babies)
Finnan - #2892 (6 babies)

I have a Findlay who we call Fin. It's my granny's maiden name so special to us. We are Scottish if that makes a difference?

Thanks for that Pop

I like Finlay

Good Luck

We have a Fintan, known as Finty-boy by his sisters and Finlay is a lovely version too.

Being Scottish too, I would say the most popular spelling would be Findlay, followed by Finlay - it looks made up with the "e".

Was trying to find the Scottish stats but can only see to find the top 20 for some reason.

Finlay. Have never came across one with the spelling Finley before.

My 12 year old Grand Daughter is Finlay and we are Scottish

Finlay is the traditional Scottish spelling. Never known a Finley until I moved to England. It just looks made up to me!

I find the pronunciation of 'Finlay' as 'Fin-lay' pretty strange - I had only ever heard it pronounced 'Fin-lee' (or local equivalent) until I moved to England (I'm from NI).

Finlay.

Though it is pronounced Fin-lee isn't it?

Nope, it's pronounced FinLay :)

I am so confused!

I quite like just Finn to be honest OP.

Guessing you have had your little boy now OP! What did you go for in the end?

ds is Finlay, and we pronounce it 'ley'.......... tho more often than not I call him Fin or Finners (not sure how the Finners started tbh but its stuck!)
people will selt it wrong quite often too whichever spellng you choose!
I hope the 'delivery' went well! :)

Awww we have a finlay, and hes fin, finners or finster! Good luck!