Rayleigh anomalies (RAs) and surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on subwavelength metallic gratings play pivotal roles in many interesting phenomena such as extraordinary optical transmission. In this work, we present a theoretical analysis of the effect of finite metallic grating size on RA-SPP resonances based on the combination of rigorous coupled wave analysis and finite aperture diffraction. One-dimensional arrays of gold subwavelength gratings with different device sizes were fabricated and the optical transmission spectra were measured. As the grating size shrinks, the broadening of the RA-SPP resonances is predicted by the theoretical model. For the first order RA-SPP resonances, the results from this model are in good agreement with the spectra measured from the fabricated plasmonic gratings. Mag. 4, 269-275 (1902). 11. L. Rayleigh, "Note on the remarkable case of diffraction spectra described by Prof. Wood," Philos. Mag. 14(79), 60-65 (1907). 12. U. Fano, "The theory of anomalous diffraction gratings and of quasi-stationary waves on metallic surfaces (Sommerfeld's waves)," J. Opt. Soc. Am. 31(3), 213-222 (1941). 13. M. C. Y. Huang, Y. Zhou, and C. J. Chang-Hasnain, "A surface-emitting laser incorporating a high-indexcontrast subwavelength grating," Nat. Photonics 1(2), 119-122 (2007). 14. C. J. Chang-Hasnain, "High-contrast gratings as a new platform for integrated optoelectronics," Semicond. Sci.Technol