Ailee
Feminine
Ailee is a name with several plausible parents and no certain one. The Scottish Ailie is a pet form of Aileen and Alison; the Irish Aile and the English Ailee both appear in records; and a Korean-American singer carried the spelling into wide visibility in the twenty-tens. It is a soft, short name that arrived from more than one direction.
How old is the name Ailee?
Ailee first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Ailee is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Ailee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ailee most popular?
Ailee peaked in 2022, reaching #2956 nationally. Today it ranks #4878, 1,922 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Ailee
There is a whole family of American girls' names ending in a bright -ee, most of them spelled at least four ways: Bailee, Kaylee, Hailee, Ailee. What holds them together is not an origin but a shape, two beats ending high, and what distinguishes each one is the opening consonant, or in this case the absence of one. Starting on a vowel gives Ailee a softness the rest of the family does not have. It is the smallest possible design decision and it is the whole difference.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Not documented. Ailie, the Scottish pet form, points back to Aileen and so to Helen, whose Greek root is itself unresolved. The modern American Ailee behaves like a member of the Bailee and Kaylee rhyme family rather than a descendant of anything, and no source records it before the last few decades.
Pronouncing Ailee
AY-lee
Two syllables, stress in front. Some families say EYE-lee, following the Scottish Ailie, and the spelling supports both.
Nicknames for Ailee
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 202256 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2956reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −32.5%27 in 2025, from 40
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ailee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ailie in Scottish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Ailees among us
people named Ailee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 59,528 born in 2025 was named Ailee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ailee
- #4878
- Ailee on the 2025 chart
- #909
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ailee went to 27 girls in 2025, but Aylee is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 51, which makes it the 909th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,969 places above the chart.
- Ailee27
- Aylee24
About 1 girl in 31,515 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 59,528 for Ailee itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kierston test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ailee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kierston climbed just as high around 1990, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kierston's path sketches the road Ailee is walking now.
Ailee sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ailee is headed
Ailee should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ailee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ailee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is short, soft and easy for a very young child to say.
- Lee works as a short form and is a complete name on its own.
- The opening vowel makes it distinct from a very crowded rhyme family.
- Ailee, Aylee and Aileigh are all in use and near-identical in speech.
- Two pronunciations circulate, AY-lee and EYE-lee, and the spelling settles neither.
- The clipped form Ail is an English word meaning to be unwell, so short forms need choosing carefully.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ailee to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Ailee? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Ailee
Feminine · #4878 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ailees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Ailee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ailee?
- Ailee is the most-used spelling in US records — 27 of the 51 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Aylee.
- How popular is the name Ailee in 2025?
- Ailee ranks #4878 among US girl names in 2025, with 27 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ailee?
- About 1 in every 59,528 US girls born in 2025 was named Ailee — 27 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ailee with classmates?
- Ailee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ailee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maribelle#4878 · Evangelia#4878 · Pari#4878 · Zoraya#4878 · Saba#4878 · Chyna#4878 · Odyssey#4878 · Zana#4878
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ailee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ailee and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle