Kaileigh
Feminine
Kaileigh is one of at least eight spellings of a sound that arrived in the nineteen-eighties, and the multiplicity is the story: when a name goes from almost nothing to everywhere in a decade, families start choosing spellings rather than names. Underneath are an Irish surname, a Welsh clearing and a song.
How old is the name Kaileigh?
Kaileigh first appears in US birth records in 1985 — 40 years ago. The typical Kaileigh alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 2,700 people named Kaileigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaileigh most popular?
Kaileigh peaked in 2004, reaching #1586 nationally. Today it ranks #5099, 3,513 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mac Caolaidhe to Kaileigh
The story of Kaileigh
The rise was very fast: almost no Kayleighs before 1980, tens of thousands by 1990, across Britain, Ireland, Australia and the United States at once. A single rock song is generally credited with starting it. What followed is the ordinary arithmetic of a hit name: Kayleigh, Kaleigh, Kaylee, Kailee, Caleigh, Cayleigh, Kaylie and Kaileigh all write two syllables, and each family picks one so their daughter is not the third in her class.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Several accounts, none decisive. Kayley is an anglicized Irish surname from Mac Caolaidhe. Kay plus Leigh is a blend of two existing names. And the Irish ceili, a music and dancing gathering, is a genuine word that a widely played song of the nineteen-eighties put in front of a generation. The modern name draws on all of them.
How the name formed
- Mac Caolaidhe
- Kayley
- Kayleigh
- Kaileigh
Related forms: Céilí · Kayleigh
Pronouncing Kaileigh
KAY-lee
Two syllables, stress in front. Every spelling of this name is said exactly the same way.
Nicknames for Kaileigh
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
- 1985
- Most girls named
- 2004124 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1586reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- +25.0%25 in 2025, from 20
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.
Kaileigh 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, Louisiana, New York.
Kaileighs among us
people named Kaileigh are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 64,291 born in 2025 was named Kaileigh
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaileigh
- #5099
- Kaileigh on the 2025 chart
- #588
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaileigh went to 25 girls in 2025, but Kayleigh, Cayleigh 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 — 4,511 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 3,998 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 64,291 for Kaileigh 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 Karry test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaileigh's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Karry climbed just as high around 1971, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Karry's path sketches the road Kaileigh is walking now.
Kaileigh 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 Kaileigh is headed
Kaileigh is easing off slowly — about 28% 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.
Kaileigh beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaileigh in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kai and Leigh are ready short forms and both are complete names.
- 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 eight 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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Kaileigh
Feminine · #5099 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaileighs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Kaileigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaileigh?
- Kaileigh is one of 4 recorded spellings. Kayleigh is the more common one — 340 births in 2025 against 25 for Kaileigh.
- How popular is the name Kaileigh in 2025?
- Kaileigh ranks #5099 among US girl names in 2025, with 25 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaileigh?
- About 1 in every 64,291 US girls born in 2025 was named Kaileigh — 25 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaileigh with classmates?
- Kaileigh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaileigh
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janette#5099 · Loraine#5099 · Delfina#5099 · Hali#5099 · Mecca#5099 · Zoi#5099 · Afia#5099 · Emelie#5099
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaileigh? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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