Mailey
Feminine
Mailey belongs to the -ailey rhyme set, which has been one of the largest in American girls' naming for thirty years: Bailey, Hailey, Kailey, Railey, Mailey. Two of those are genuine English surnames and the rest are the same sound with different initials. Mailey's peak is 2010.
How old is the name Mailey?
Mailey first appears in US birth records in 1999 — 26 years ago. The typical Mailey alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 500 people named Mailey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mailey most popular?
Mailey peaked in 2010, reaching #3816 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 2,300 places below that high. See the whole 2010 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hailey to Mailey
Our story of Mailey
Rhyme families are the most efficient name-generating machines a language has, and this one shows why. Once Bailey and Hailey were both established — the first from a surname, the second from a place — the ear had a template with a variable slot at the front. Every consonant in English was then available, and most of them got used: Kailey, Railey, Mailey, Dailey, Cailey, Zailey. Each new member requires no explanation, because the family has already taught everyone how to say it, and each is instantly placed as a modern American girls' name of a particular kind. The cost is exactly the same property that makes them work: nobody hearing one will be sure which member they heard, and a bearer will spend her life clarifying the first letter.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No documented source. The family's genuine members have real etymologies: Bailey is an occupational surname for a bailiff, and Hailey is an English place name from heg leah, 'hay clearing'. Mailey is not attested as a surname of any standing, and no dictionary supplies it. A Vietnamese route is sometimes suggested, since Mai is a common Vietnamese name meaning apricot blossom, but the -ley ending is not Vietnamese and the connection cannot be shown.
How the name formed
- Hailey
- Mailey
Related forms: Maily · Maleigh
Pronouncing Mailey
MAY-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Identical to Maily and Maleigh; the spellings differ only on paper. There is no competing saying.
Nicknames for Mailey
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
- 1999
- Most girls named
- 201040 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3816reached in 2010
- Change vs 2024
- +11.8%19 in 2025, from 17
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.
Mailey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maily in English — spelling variant
- Maleigh in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Missouri.
Maileys among us
people named Mailey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Mailey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mailey
- #6116
- Mailey on the 2025 chart
- #929
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mailey went to 19 girls in 2025, but Mayley is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 31, which makes it the 929th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,187 places above the chart.
- Mailey19
- Mayley12
About 1 girl in 51,847 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 84,593 for Mailey 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 Jennessa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mailey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jennessa climbed just as high around 1991, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jennessa's path sketches the road Mailey is walking now.
Mailey 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
Mailey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mailey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- May and Lee are both complete names available as short forms.
- The pronunciation is obvious from the spelling with no competing reading.
- The rhyme family places it instantly on first hearing.
- It sits in a very large rhyme family and the initial will be misheard constantly.
- There is no documented meaning to give when asked.
- The construction dates the name closely to the 1995-2020 window.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Mailey
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maileys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Mailey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mailey?
- Mailey is the most-used spelling in US records — 19 of the 31 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Mayley.
- How popular is the name Mailey in 2025?
- Mailey ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mailey?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Mailey — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mailey with classmates?
- Mailey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mailey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Mena#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mailey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mailey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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