Caley
Feminine
Caley is given to both — 2,481 girls and 151 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Caledonia is what the Romans called Scotland, after a people called the Caledonii, and the word survives in a canal, a football club, an island group in the Pacific and a set of given names.
How old is the name Caley?
Caley first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Caley alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 2,400 people named Caley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Caley most popular?
Caley peaked in 1994, reaching #1454 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 9,463 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Where it comes from
From Caledonia to Caley
The story of Caley
Tacitus records the name in his account of Agricola's campaigns in the 80s, and the Caledonii are one of the peoples the Romans met north of the Forth. The territory was never held, and Caledonia stayed a literary word for the Highlands and then for Scotland as a whole, useful to poets because Scotland does not scan. It is why the canal across the Great Glen is the Caledonian Canal, why an Inverness football club is known as Caley, and why James Cook named New Caledonia in 1774, apparently because the hills reminded him of Scotland. The American name Caley is more likely to come from the Kaylee family than from any of that, and the two have converged in spelling.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Caley is a short form used for Caledonia and for names in the Kayleigh and Kaylee family, and it is also a Scottish surname. The Roman Caledonia comes from the Caledonii, a people of the Highlands whose own name is not explained. The peak is 1994.
How the name formed
- Caledonia
- Caley
Related forms: Kaylee · Caley
Pronouncing Caley
KAY-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Caley, Kaylee and Kayleigh are homophones.
Nicknames for Caley
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
- 1973
- Most girls named
- 1994109 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1454reached in 1994
- Change vs 2024
- +60.0%8 in 2025, from 5
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.
Caley in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaylee in English — related form
- Caley in Scots — same name
Caleys among us
people named Caley are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Caley
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Caley
- #10917
- Caley on the 2025 chart
- #890
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Caley went to 8 girls in 2025, but Kaley, Kalei and Calley and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 70, which makes it the 890th most-given girls’ name of the year — 10,027 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 22,961 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 200,908 for Caley 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 Jenise test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Caley's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jenise climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jenise's path sketches the road Caley is walking now.
Caley 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
Caley beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Caley in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and five letters, the shortest spelling of the sound.
- It works for either sex.
- Lee is a ready short form.
- Many spellings of this sound compete.
- It has no single documented source.
- The 1994 peak dates it closely.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Caley 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 Caley? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Caley
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Caleys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Caley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Caley?
- Caley is one of 5 recorded spellings. Kaley is the more common one — 38 births in 2025 against 8 for Caley.
- How popular is the name Caley in 2025?
- Caley ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Caley?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Caley — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Caley with classmates?
- Caley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Caley
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Caley? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Caley 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