Kalleigh
Feminine · “Old English leah”
A leah was a clearing in woodland, and the -ley in English place names marks one. There are thousands of them, and their distribution is a map of where England's forest stood, because you only need a word for a clearing where there are trees to clear.
How old is the name Kalleigh?
Kalleigh first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Kalleigh alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 700 people named Kalleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kalleigh most popular?
Kalleigh peaked in 2009, reaching #3088 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 6,369 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From leah to Kalleigh
The story of Kalleigh
Leah is everywhere on the English map, as -ley, -leigh and -lea: Bromley, Beverley, Chorley, Hadleigh, Wembley, Barnsley. It meant a clearing in a wood, and later an open glade or a meadow. The distribution is informative. The -ley names cluster heavily in the Midlands and the north-west, on land that was wooded when the names were given, and are sparse in the chalk downs and fens where there was little forest to clear. Reading the endings together produces a rough vegetation map of Anglo-Saxon England: -ley for clearings, -hurst for wooded hills, -field for open country, -mere for lakes, -fen for marsh, -don and -dun for hills. Modern American names ending in -leigh have inherited the spelling and none of the geography, and the ending is now attached to openings that no English place ever had.
Meaningscholars disagree
Old English leah, a woodland clearing
Kalleigh is an American respelling of Kaley or Kayleigh. The -leigh element is genuine: Old English leah, a clearing or glade in woodland, is the second commonest element in English place names after tun. The Ka- opening has no established source, and Kayleigh itself is a modern formation. The peak of this spelling is 2009.
How the name formed
- leah
- Kayleigh
- Kalleigh
Related forms: Kayleigh · Kaley
Pronouncing Kalleigh
KAY-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Kalleigh, Kayleigh, Kaley and Caleigh are homophones, with the -eigh spelling adding three letters and no sound.
Nicknames for Kalleigh
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
- 1990
- Most girls named
- 200955 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3088reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- +25.0%10 in 2025, from 8
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.
Kalleigh in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kayleigh in English — related form
- Kaley in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Kalleighs among us
people named Kalleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Kalleigh
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kalleigh
- #9457
- Kalleigh on the 2025 chart
- #832
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kalleigh went to 10 girls in 2025, but Kaleigh, Caleigh and Calleigh are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 128, which makes it the 832nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 8,625 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 12,557 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 160,727 for Kalleigh 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 Kassey test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kalleigh's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kassey climbed just as high around 1992, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kassey's path sketches the road Kalleigh is walking now.
Kalleigh 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
Kalleigh beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kalleigh in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Leigh is available as a short form and is a name in its own right.
- The sound is completely familiar even where the spelling is not.
- Two syllables with a clear first-syllable stress.
- At least six spellings compete for the same sound.
- The -eigh ending is four letters for one sound.
- It will be spelled out every time it is given.
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What they receive
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Kalleigh
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kalleighs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Kalleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kalleigh?
- Kalleigh is one of 4 recorded spellings. Kaleigh is the more common one — 56 births in 2025 against 10 for Kalleigh.
- How popular is the name Kalleigh in 2025?
- Kalleigh ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kalleigh?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Kalleigh — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kalleigh with classmates?
- Kalleigh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kalleigh
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kalleigh? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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