Kailie
Feminine
In Britain this name family owes a great deal to one song. A rock single released in 1985 was called Kayleigh, after a woman the singer had known, and it went to the top of the charts and stayed there — after which British birth records filled with the name for a decade. American naming got to the same sound by a different road, joining Kay and Lee, two names that were already standing on their own.
How old is the name Kailie?
Kailie first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Kailie alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 1,300 people named Kailie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kailie most popular?
Kailie peaked in 1999, reaching #2133 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,075 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Kailie
The British and American stories are genuinely separate. In Britain the song did the work, and the spelling Kayleigh dominated because that was how the record label printed it. In America the name arrived through the general habit of combining short familiar elements, and the spellings multiplied immediately — Kaylee, Kayleigh, Kailey, Kailie, Caylee. This version uses ai at the front, which fixes the first vowel more firmly than ay does, and an -ie ending, which reads as a daughter's name to English speakers.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No single derivation. Kay is a short form of Katherine and a standing name of its own; Lee is an English surname meaning a clearing. Joining them produces something with no meaning beyond its parts. The Welsh word ceilidh, sometimes offered, is Gaelic rather than Welsh, means a social gathering, and has nothing to do with this name.
Pronouncing Kailie
KAY-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Every spelling of this name is said identically, which is why there are more than a dozen of them in the American record and why the letters have to be given every time.
Nicknames for Kailie
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
- 1984
- Most girls named
- 199971 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2133reached in 1999
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%6 in 2025, 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.
Kailies among us
people named Kailie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Kailie
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kailie
- #13208
- Kailie on the 2025 chart
- #799
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kailie went to 6 girls in 2025, but Kaylie and Caylie are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 161, which makes it the 799th most-given girls’ name of the year — 12,409 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 9,983 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Kailie 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 Kimya test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kailie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kimya climbed just as high around 1974, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kimya's path sketches the road Kailie is walking now.
Kailie 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
Kailie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kailie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kai and Lee are both complete standing names, so it shortens two ways.
- The ai fixes the first vowel more firmly than the commoner ay spelling does.
- It is entirely readable on sight by any English speaker.
- Kaylee, Kayleigh, Kailey and Caylee are all commoner, and dictating the spelling is permanent.
- The name family was heavily used in one stretch of decades and dates a woman accordingly.
- There is no documented meaning, only an account of the two parts.
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Kailie
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kailies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Kailie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kailie?
- Kailie is one of 3 recorded spellings. Kaylie is the more common one — 148 births in 2025 against 6 for Kailie.
- How popular is the name Kailie in 2025?
- Kailie ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kailie?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Kailie — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kailie with classmates?
- Kailie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kailie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kailie? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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