Haile
Feminine · “Power of the Trinity”
Haile is given to both — 846 girls and 227 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Haile entered the American record in a single year, and the year is the one in which an emperor stood in front of the League of Nations and told it, accurately, what was about to happen to everybody else.
How old is the name Haile?
Haile first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Haile alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 800 people named Haile are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Haile most popular?
Haile peaked in 2002, reaching #2414 nationally. See the whole 2002 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Haile
Italy invaded Ethiopia with aircraft and poison gas, and the emperor went to Geneva in person to ask the League of Nations to act. He spoke in Amharic, was heckled by Italian journalists, and told the assembly that what was being done to his country would be done to theirs if it was allowed — which it was, and it was. The speech was carried in every American newspaper and newsreel, and the American record shows the name appearing that year and essentially not before. It is one of the clearest cases of a single political moment putting a foreign name into circulation.
Meaning
Power of the Trinity
The name is Ethiopian, from Ge'ez, and it is half of a regnal name taken at coronation rather than a birth name — the emperor was christened something else entirely. The full phrase means the power or might of the Trinity.
Pronouncing Haile
HY-lee
Two syllables, stress at the front. Amharic says it closer to HAH-ee-leh, with three.
Nicknames for Haile
Limited
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
- 1990
- Most girls named
- 200266 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2414reached in 2002
- Change vs 2023
- +83.3%11 in 2024, from 6
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.
Haile in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ኃይለ in Amharic — same name
Hailes among us
people named Haile are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Haile sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and unusually weighty.
- It is short and read correctly on sight by most Americans.
- It carries a documented and genuinely consequential namesake.
- The name is inseparable from one person, who is a complicated figure in his own country.
- It is half of a phrase rather than a name on its own in the original.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes, with most of it going to boys.
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Haile
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Hailes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Haile are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Haile in 2025?
- Haile is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Haile with classmates?
- Haile will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Helen#461 · Heather#1261 · Hannah#56 · Hazel#21 · Holly#416 · Hailey#104 · Haley#861 · Heidi#340
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Haile? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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