Meaning and origin of Ashley

The name "Ashley" is of English origin, from a place name and surname that meant "from the ash tree field/meadow".

As a given name, like most surnames turned into first names, Ashley was originally used for male children, but it gained popularity as a female first name in the United States in the late 20th century. Its sudden rise in popularity is generally attributed to the emergence of the female soap opera character Ashley Abbott on The Young and The Restless in 1982. Ashley was the most popular name for girls in the United States for several years in the late '80s and early '90s. Although it is still a very popular name today (it ranked as the tenth most popular girls' name in the United States in 2005), its usage as a percentage of total births has declined significantly.
In the United Kingdom Ashley is a male name. On the other side of the Atlantic, the name is still occasionally used for boys in the South, in part thanks to Ashley Wilkes' character from Gone with the Wind.

As with many names that achieve immense popularity, a number of corrupted spellings of Ashley emerged. The Social Security Administration has record of girls named [1]:

Ashley
Ashleigh
Ashlee
Ashly
Ashlie
Ashli
Ashlea
Notable bearers of this name include:

As a given name:

Ashley Blue (born 1981), American Adult film star
Ashley Cole (born 1980), English football player
Ashley Carrington, (pseudonym of German writer Rainer M. Schröder)
Ashley Giles (born 1973), English cricketer
Ashley Hames, English television presenter
Ashley Hart, one of Great Britain's youngest Company Directors
Ashley Havinden (1903-1973), English font designer
Ashley Massaro (born 1979), WWE Diva for the SmackDown! brand.
Ashley Judd (born 1968 as Ashley Tyler Ciminella), American actress
Ashley Mizuki Robbins ( released in 2005 ) character in trace memory videogame for the nintendo DS
Ashley Olsen (see Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) (born 1986), American actress
Ashley Parker Angel (born 1981), a pop/rock singer formerly in the boy band O-Town
Ashley Slanina-Davies, British actress
Ashley Smith The hostage held by Brian Nichols
Ashley Tisdale (born 1985), American actress
Ashley Wood (born 1971), Australian comic book and concept artist
Ashley Lelie, American football player
Ashley X, the pillow angel from Seattle, the subject of the Ashley Treatment
As a surname:

Anthony Evelyn Melbourne Ashley (1836-1907), English writer and politician
Ian Ashley (born 1947), former British Formula 1 race car driver
Jack Ashley, Baron Ashley of Stoke (born 1922), British Life Peer and former Labour MP
Jackie Ashley (born 1954), British journalist
Laura Ashley (1925–1985), British designer
Sir Bernard Ashley (born 1926), a Welsh businessman/engineer and widower of Laura Ashley
Sir William Ashley (1860-1927), Economic historian
As a variant of the name Ashley:

Ashlee Simpson (born 1984), an American pop/rock singer and actress
Ashley (singer) ( bron 1971) A puerto rican merengue singer
The name Ashley also appears in literature and popular culture.

Ashley (WarioWare), a character from WarioWare: Touched! for the Nintendo DS
Ashley Mizuki Robbins, the hero of Trace Memory for the Nintendo DS
Ashley Wilkes, a central character from the novel Gone with the Wind
"Ask Ashley" (see All That), a comedy skit appearing on the television
Ash Williams, the hero of the Evil Dead film series
Ashley Peacock, a character from Coronation Street
Ashley Riot, the hero of Vagrant Story
Ashley Winchester, a main character of Wild Arms 2
-http://en.wikipedia.org