Cayleigh
Feminine
Cayleigh is one of a large group of spellings for a sound that arrived in English-speaking countries in the nineteen-eighties, and its origins are genuinely mixed: an Irish surname, an English word for a clearing, and the Irish ceili, a house gathering with music and dancing, all feed into it.
How old is the name Cayleigh?
Cayleigh first appears in US birth records in 1986 — 39 years ago. The typical Cayleigh alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 2,300 people named Cayleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cayleigh most popular?
Cayleigh peaked in 2009, reaching #1441 nationally. Today it ranks #4878, 3,437 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mac Caolaidhe to Cayleigh
The story of Cayleigh
The sound came into wide use very fast: almost absent before 1980, everywhere by 1990, in Britain, Ireland, Australia and the United States at once. A rock song of the mid-eighties carried the spelling Kayleigh and is generally credited with the surge. Once a name spreads that quickly, the spellings multiply, and this one has more than most: Kayleigh, Kaylee, Kaleigh, Caleigh, Cayleigh and Kaylie all write the same two syllables.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Several accounts, none decisive. Kayley is an anglicized Irish surname from Mac Caolaidhe, itself from caol, slender. Kay plus Leigh is a blend of two existing names. And the Irish ceili, a music and dancing gathering, is a real word that a well-known song of the nineteen-eighties made familiar. The modern name draws on all three.
How the name formed
- Mac Caolaidhe
- Kayley
- Kayleigh
- Cayleigh
Related forms: Céilí · Kayleigh
Pronouncing Cayleigh
KAY-lee
Two syllables, stress in front. Every spelling of this name is said the same way.
Nicknames for Cayleigh
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
- 1986
- Most girls named
- 2009162 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1441reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- −6.9%27 in 2025, from 29
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.
Cayleigh in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Céilí in Irish — related form
- Kayleigh in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Florida.
Cayleighs among us
people named Cayleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 59,528 born in 2025 was named Cayleigh
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cayleigh
- #4878
- Cayleigh on the 2025 chart
- #588
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cayleigh went to 27 girls in 2025, but Kayleigh, Kaileigh and Caileigh are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 402, which makes it the 588th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,290 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 3,998 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 59,528 for Cayleigh 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 Jordana test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cayleigh's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jordana climbed just as high around 1979, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jordana's path sketches the road Cayleigh is walking now.
Cayleigh 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 Cayleigh is headed
Cayleigh is easing off slowly — about 30% 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.
Cayleigh beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cayleigh in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Cay and Leigh are ready short forms and both are names in their own right.
- The sound is universally familiar in English-speaking countries.
- It has several real histories to draw on rather than being a pure coinage.
- At least six spellings of this sound are in common use, so the name will be written back wrongly for life.
- It is strongly of the nineteen-eighties and nineties, which places it in time.
- None of its possible origins is settled, so answers found online will disagree.
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What they receive
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Cayleigh
Feminine · #4878 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cayleighs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Cayleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cayleigh?
- Cayleigh is one of 4 recorded spellings. Kayleigh is the more common one — 340 births in 2025 against 27 for Cayleigh.
- How popular is the name Cayleigh in 2025?
- Cayleigh ranks #4878 among US girl names in 2025, with 27 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cayleigh?
- About 1 in every 59,528 US girls born in 2025 was named Cayleigh — 27 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cayleigh with classmates?
- Cayleigh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cayleigh
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 Cayleigh? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cayleigh and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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