Kinleigh
Feminine · “fair hero”
Kinleigh is a respelling of Kinley, and Kinley is Scottish: a shortening of Mac Fhionnlaigh, son of Finlay — a name meaning the fair hero or fair warrior.
How old is the name Kinleigh?
Kinleigh first appears in US birth records in 1998 — 27 years ago. The typical Kinleigh is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,100 people named Kinleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kinleigh most popular?
Kinleigh peaked in 2014, reaching #1092 nationally. Today it ranks #3342, 2,250 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Where it comes from
From Fionnlagh to Kinleigh
The story of Kinleigh
Mac Fhionnlaigh is a Scottish Highland surname, anglicized as Mackinlay and Kinley, and it reached America with Scottish and Scots-Irish emigration. Its use as a girls' given name is very recent and belongs with Kinsley, Brinley and Everly, the -ley group that American naming has favored for two decades. Kinleigh, with the -eigh ending, is the newest spelling layer.
Meaningscholars disagree
fair hero
Finlay is from Gaelic fionn, fair or white, and laogh, generally read as a hero or warrior, though a reading as a calf has also been offered. Whether the modern American Kinley descends from Mac Fhionnlaigh or was built from Kin- and the -ley ending is not documented for every family that uses it.
How the name formed
- Fionnlagh
- Mac Fhionnlaigh
- Kinley
- Kinleigh
Related forms: Fionnlagh · Kinley · Finlay
Pronouncing Kinleigh
KIN-lee
Two syllables, first stressed. Every spelling of the name sounds the same.
Nicknames for Kinleigh
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
- 1998
- Most girls named
- 2014233 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1092reached in 2014
- Change vs 2024
- −2.1%46 in 2025, from 47
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.
Kinleigh in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fionnlagh in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Kinley in English — spelling variant
- Finlay in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Indiana, Tennessee.
Kinleighs among us
people named Kinleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 34,941 born in 2025 was named Kinleigh
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kinleigh
- #3342
- Kinleigh on the 2025 chart
- #879
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kinleigh went to 46 girls in 2025, but Kynleigh is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 81, which makes it the 879th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,463 places above the chart.
- Kinleigh46
- Kynleigh35
About 1 girl in 19,843 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 34,941 for Kinleigh 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 Florinda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kinleigh's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Florinda climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Florinda's path sketches the road Kinleigh is walking now.
Kinleigh 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 Kinleigh is headed
Kinleigh is easing off slowly — about 24% 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.
Kinleigh beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kinleigh in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Gaelic meaning behind a very current sound.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Kin and Leigh are both usable short forms.
- Kinley is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected constantly.
- Kinsley is much more common and will be heard in its place.
- It sits in a very crowded group of -ley girls' names.
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What they receive
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Kinleigh
Feminine · #3342 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kinleighs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Kinleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kinleigh?
- Kinleigh is the most-used spelling in US records — 46 of the 81 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kynleigh.
- How popular is the name Kinleigh in 2025?
- Kinleigh ranks #3342 among US girl names in 2025, with 46 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kinleigh?
- About 1 in every 34,941 US girls born in 2025 was named Kinleigh — 46 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kinleigh with classmates?
- Kinleigh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kinleigh
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zorah#3342 · Monique#3342 · Emmelyn#3342 · Zyana#3342 · Swara#3342 · Azaleah#3342 · Kamiah#3342 · Elenora#3342
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kinleigh? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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