Carleigh
Feminine · “free man”
Carleigh joins Carl to a -leigh ending, and the Germanic karl behind it means a free man.
How old is the name Carleigh?
Carleigh first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Carleigh alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 6,100 people named Carleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carleigh most popular?
Carleigh peaked in 2010, reaching #925 nationally. Today it ranks #2583, 1,658 places below that high. See the whole 2010 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From karl leah to Carleigh
The story of Carleigh
Karl meant an ordinary free man rather than a noble, and English 'churl' descends from it with contempt added — yet Charlemagne was so dominant that Slavic languages took his name as their word for a king. Leah is the commonest element in English place names. Carleigh appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
free man; clearing
The Carl- front is from the Germanic karl, 'free man' — the word that also gives 'churl' and, through Charlemagne, the Slavic word for a king. The -leigh ending is the Old English leah, 'clearing'. Both elements are genuine; the compound is modern American.
How the name formed
- karl leah
- Carleigh
Related forms: Carlee · Karlie
Pronouncing Carleigh
KAR-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. All the spellings of the sound are said identically.
Nicknames for Carleigh
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
- 1975
- Most girls named
- 2010280 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #925reached in 2010
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%67 in 2025, from 67
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.
Carleigh in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Carlee in English — spelling variant
- Karlie in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Alabama.
Carleighs among us
people named Carleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 23,989 born in 2025 was named Carleigh
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Carleigh
- #2583
- Carleigh on the 2025 chart
- #848
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Carleigh went to 67 girls in 2025, but Karleigh is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 112, which makes it the 848th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,735 places above the chart.
- Carleigh67
- Karleigh45
About 1 girl in 14,351 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 23,989 for Carleigh 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 Magan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Carleigh's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Magan climbed just as high around 1985, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Magan's path sketches the road Carleigh is walking now.
Carleigh 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 Carleigh is headed
Carleigh is easing off slowly — about 27% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium 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.
Carleigh beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Carleigh in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That Charlemagne's name became the Slavic word for a king is a first-rate fact.
- Carly and Leigh are two short forms, both with real records.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- At least five spellings of the sound are in circulation.
- The compound is modern rather than inherited.
- It will be respelled by other people constantly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Carleigh
Feminine · #2583 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Carleighs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,100 people named Carleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Carleigh?
- Carleigh is the most-used spelling in US records — 67 of the 112 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Karleigh.
- How popular is the name Carleigh in 2025?
- Carleigh ranks #2583 among US girl names in 2025, with 67 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Carleigh?
- About 1 in every 23,989 US girls born in 2025 was named Carleigh — 67 in all.
- Will my child share the name Carleigh with classmates?
- Carleigh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Carleigh
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Azra#2583 · Jelani#2583 · Liba#2583 · Talya#2583 · Nature#2583 · Xylah#2583 · Island#2583 · Maleni#2583
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Carleigh? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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