Kailey
Feminine · “Not established”
Kailey is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 27,244 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
Kailey belongs to one of the largest sound families in modern American naming — the Kaylees, Kayleighs and Caleighs that all land on the same two bright syllables. This particular spelling was on American birth records well before Marillion's 1985 single "Kayleigh" carried that sound up the British charts. Said aloud it is unmistakable; written down, it is one of several honest ways to get there.
How old is the name Kailey?
Kailey first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Kailey alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 27,000 people named Kailey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kailey most popular?
Kailey peaked in 2004, reaching #228 nationally. Today it ranks #1417, 1,189 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Kailey
Kailey is an American spelling choice rather than an inheritance, and its story is the story of a sound rather than a word. That sound arrived through several doors at once: Irish surnames like Kealey and Keeley, the surname Cayley, and the free assembly of Kay and Lee that English speakers have used for well over a century. Marillion's 1985 single "Kayleigh" pushed one version of it into wide British use, and the whole family broadened afterward on both sides of the Atlantic. Kailey was already appearing in American records before that, and it rose alongside its cousins rather than because of any one event.
Meaningnot established
Not established — Kailey is a modern respelling rather than a word carried over from another language.
What is documented is the family it sits in. The same sound reaches English through the Irish surnames Kealey and Keeley, anglicized from Ó Caollaidhe, through the surname Cayley, and through the simple joining of Kay and Lee. Which of those a given Kailey descends from is usually a matter of what her parents liked the look of, not of lineage.
Pronouncing Kailey
KAY-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the "ai" read as a long A. The main confusion is with Kylie (KY-lee), which looks similar in print but starts on a different vowel.
Nicknames for Kailey
High
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 20041,439 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #228reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- −15.0%153 in 2025, from 180
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.
Kailey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaylee in English — spelling variant
- Kayleigh in English — spelling variant
- Kaleigh in English — spelling variant
- Cayley in English — spelling variant
- Keeley in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kaileys among us
people named Kailey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 10,505 born in 2025 was named Kailey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kailey
- #1417
- Kailey on the 2025 chart
- #726
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kailey went to 153 girls in 2025, but Kayley, Cailey and Kaylei and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 236, which makes it the 726th most-given girls’ name of the year — 691 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 6,810 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 10,505 for Kailey 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 Betsy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kailey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Betsy climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Betsy's path sketches the road Kailey is walking now.
Kailey 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 Kailey is headed
Kailey is easing off slowly — about 24% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High 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.
Kailey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kailey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads correctly on sight for English speakers: the pronunciation is never in doubt, only the spelling.
- Two established short forms, Kai and Kay, both of which stand alone as given names.
- Sits in a large, widely recognized sound family, so no one has to be taught how to say it.
- Well distributed nationally, with particular strength in California, Texas and Florida.
- A full generation of bearers has now reached adulthood, so the name is familiar on résumés as well as in classrooms.
- The spelling is the real cost. Kaylee, Kayleigh, Kaleigh, Kailee and Caleigh all sound identical, so she will spell it out on the phone for life and receive mail in three other versions.
- There is no settled meaning to offer when she asks. The honest answer is that it is a made spelling of an old-sounding syllable pair — which is true of a great many names people love.
- The whole sound family reads as belonging to a fairly narrow recent stretch of American naming, so the name carries a generational marker more clearly than, say, Anna or Clare.
- Most bearers are now adults rather than children, which means a Kailey born today will rarely share her name with a classmate.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kailey
Feminine · #1417 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaileys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 27,000 people named Kailey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kailey?
- Kailey is the most-used spelling in US records — 153 of the 236 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kayley, Cailey, Kaylei and Cayley.
- How popular is the name Kailey in 2025?
- Kailey ranks #1417 among US girl names in 2025, with 153 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kailey?
- About 1 in every 10,505 US girls born in 2025 was named Kailey — 153 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kailey with classmates?
- Kailey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kailey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Georgiana#1417 · Korra#1417 · Haylee#1417 · Ariadna#1417 · Marlie#1417 · Addyson#1413 · Aida#1413 · Emryn#1413
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kailey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kailey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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