Head to head · Girls' names
Bailey vs Jasmine
#208 vs #206 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Jasmine is a whisker ahead (#206 vs #208 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Jasmine leads 5 measures of 6; Bailey leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1900s: Bailey —, Jasmine #1951 — Jasmine higher
- 1910s: Bailey #3919, Jasmine #3203 — Jasmine higher
- 1920s: Bailey #4426, Jasmine #3501 — Jasmine higher
- 1930s: Bailey —, Jasmine #3602 — Jasmine higher
- 1940s: Bailey —, Jasmine #4604 — Jasmine higher
- 1950s: Bailey #5952, Jasmine #1868 — Jasmine higher
- 1960s: Bailey —, Jasmine #2054 — Jasmine higher
- 1970s: Bailey #7287, Jasmine #719 — Jasmine higher
- 1980s: Bailey #812, Jasmine #128 — Jasmine higher
- 1990s: Bailey #127, Jasmine #26 — Jasmine higher
- 2000s: Bailey #89, Jasmine #32 — Jasmine higher
- 2010s: Bailey #109, Jasmine #105 — Jasmine higher
- 2020s: Bailey #180, Jasmine #180
Jasmine stood higher in every recorded decade — 12 of 12.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Bailey | Jasmine |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | — | #1951 |
| 1910s | #3919 | #3203 |
| 1920s | #4426 | #3501 |
| 1930s | — | #3602 |
| 1940s | — | #4604 |
| 1950s | #5952 | #1868 |
| 1960s | — | #2054 |
| 1970s | #7287 | #719 |
| 1980s | #812 | #128 |
| 1990s | #127 | #26 |
| 2000s | #89 | #32 |
| 2010s | #109 | #105 |
| 2020s | #180 | #180 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Bailey
Not charting outside the US.
Jasmine
- Canada#91
- England & Wales#92
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Bailey
'bailiff, steward' or 'outer castle wall, enclosure'
Two solid readings sit behind the surname. One is occupational: Middle English baili, from Old French bailli, a bailiff or steward — a man who managed an estate or represented a lord. The other is topographic: the bailey, the enclosed courtyard between a castle's keep and its outer wall, from Old French baille. A third, narrower source is English place names such as Bailey in Lancashire. Any given family line could descend from any of them.
baille / bailli (Old French) → baili (Middle English) → Bailey (English surname) → Bailey (given name)
How it traveled
The word came into English from Norman French after the Conquest, in both its senses — the official and the walled enclosure — and by the later Middle Ages it had settled into English family names. As a surname it spread widely through England and Ireland, and from there across the Atlantic, where American parents did what they have long done with British surnames: moved it to the front of the name.
Jasmine
Jasmine flower
The word is Persian, yasamin, and it traveled with the plant: into Arabic, into Spanish and Italian, into French and then English, gathering spellings on the way. The name is the flower and nothing else, which puts it in the same class as Rose, Lily and Violet rather than in the class of names with a hidden meaning to be looked up.
yasamin → jasmin → Jasmine
How it traveled
Jasmine is one of the most expensive materials in perfumery for reasons that come straight from the plant's habits. The flowers give off scent at night, must be picked by hand within a few hours of opening, and yield so little oil that it takes several thousand blossoms to produce a few grams; a single field's harvest is measured in the weight of petals.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Bailey
BAY-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. The main spelling gives the sound away, so strangers rarely mispronounce it — even if they hesitate over how it is spelled.
- Bails — The most common informal shortening among friends and family; rarely written down.
- Bay — Used casually at home; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- B — Initial-only address, common among classmates and siblings.
Jasmine
JAZ-min
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The Persian and Arabic forms begin with a y and put the weight at the back; the j is what French and Spanish did to that sound, and English took the French version.
- Jas — The front alone; brisk, unisex and very widely used.
- Jazzy — The front softened and spelled for the sound; affectionate and playful.
- Minnie — Built from the ending; an old name in its own right and unrecognizable as a shortening.
- Yas — The front of the Persian and Arabic forms, used by families who know those.
Who has carried each name
Bailey
No documented entry for Bailey yet.
Jasmine
Jasmine Guy (b. 1962) — A Different World star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Bailey if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Bailey from Jasmine.
Choose Jasmine if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsJasmine is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooJasmine is on the national lists of Canada and England & Wales
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Bailey
Strengths
- Spelled as it sounds: almost no one reads BAY-lee wrong on first sight.
- Over a century on American birth records, with bearers now spanning several generations — recognizable to anyone, at any age.
- Works for a girl or a boy from the same surname root, with no separate history to explain.
To consider
- Bailee, Baylee, Bayleigh and Baileigh all exist, so the question 'how do you spell that?' will follow the name through school, work and paperwork.
- Baileys Irish Cream is a household brand, and Bailey is a very popular dog name in the US. Neither is a serious problem, but expect the occasional joke.
- In American records the spelling reads overwhelmingly female. A boy named Bailey may be assumed a girl on forms and rosters until he is met in person.
Jasmine
Strengths
- Recognizable across Persian, Arabic, Turkish, French and Spanish with only small changes of spelling.
- The meaning is a real and pleasant thing that needs no explaining in any language.
- Several short forms with completely different registers, from the brisk Jas to the antique Minnie.
To consider
- The name is on record for boys in small numbers, so it is not the absolute signal it appears.
- Jasmin, Jazmin, Jazmine and Yasmin are all in use, so spelling it out is a permanent job.
- One animated film has owned the name for a generation of American children.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Bailey and Jasmine in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Bailey and Jasmine?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- One-decade wonders
- Names ending in -ley / -lee / -leigh
- Names ending in -y
- Nature names in real use
- all guides
Where Bailey and Jasmine each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Bailey or Jasmine — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Bailey or Jasmine?
- Jasmine, in 2025: Jasmine ranked #206 with 1,481 babies; Bailey ranked #208 with 1,446 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Bailey or Jasmine?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Bailey moved down 36 places; Jasmine moved down 66 places.
- Which is the older name, Bailey or Jasmine?
- Bailey entered the US charts in 1916; Jasmine entered the US charts in 1906. On the American record, Jasmine is the older name.
- How many people are named Bailey and Jasmine?
- About 110,000 people named Bailey are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 255,000 people named Jasmine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Baileys or Jasmines in the classroom?
- Bailey will almost certainly be the only one in school. Jasmine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Bailey, Jasmine and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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