Zayleigh
Feminine
Zayleigh joins the Zay- opening that American naming has been using since the 1990s to the -leigh ending it has been attaching to girls' names for even longer. Both halves are of their moment.
How old is the name Zayleigh?
Zayleigh first appears in US birth records in 2006 — 19 years ago. The typical Zayleigh is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Zayleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zayleigh most popular?
Zayleigh peaked in 2019, reaching #2011 nationally. Today it ranks #3342, 1,331 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Zayleigh
Ours, offered as ours. The -leigh ending is worth a word. It began as a real English place-name element meaning a clearing in a wood — the same one in Ashley, Bradley and Shirley — and by the 1990s had become four letters that could be added to anything to make it read as a girls' name. Zayleigh uses it that way, with a Z at the front that English almost never uses to open a name. What comes out is unmistakably American and unmistakably new.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source language is established. The construction is documented: a Zay- opening shared with Zayden, Zaylee and Zaya in American records, and a -leigh ending that comes from the Old English leah, a woodland clearing, but functions here as a modern suffix rather than a landscape.
Pronouncing Zayleigh
ZAY-lee
Two syllables, first stressed. Zayleigh, Zaylee and Zaylie are said identically.
Nicknames for Zayleigh
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
- 2006
- Most girls named
- 201995 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2011reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- −24.6%46 in 2025, from 61
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.
Zayleigh in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Ohio.
Zayleighs among us
people named Zayleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 34,941 born in 2025 was named Zayleigh
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Zayleigh
- #3342
- Zayleigh on the 2025 chart
- #909
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Zayleigh went to 46 girls in 2025, but Zaileigh is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 51, which makes it the 909th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,433 places above the chart.
- Zayleigh46
- Zaileigh5
About 1 girl in 31,515 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 34,941 for Zayleigh 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 Alixandra test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zayleigh's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alixandra climbed just as high around 1988, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alixandra's path sketches the road Zayleigh is walking now.
Zayleigh 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 Zayleigh is headed
Zayleigh should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Zayleigh beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zayleigh in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The initial Z is rare enough to keep the name distinct anywhere.
- Read correctly on sight by English speakers.
- Zay and Leigh are both usable short forms with lives of their own.
- The -leigh spelling is six letters doing the work of three, and she will spell it aloud for life.
- Zaylee, Zaylie and Zayleigh are all in use and none is dominant.
- There is no documented meaning, only a construction.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Zayleigh
Feminine · #3342 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zayleighs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Zayleigh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Zayleigh?
- Zayleigh is the most-used spelling in US records — 46 of the 51 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Zaileigh.
- How popular is the name Zayleigh in 2025?
- Zayleigh ranks #3342 among US girl names in 2025, with 46 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zayleigh?
- About 1 in every 34,941 US girls born in 2025 was named Zayleigh — 46 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zayleigh with classmates?
- Zayleigh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zayleigh
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zorah#3342 · Monique#3342 · Kinleigh#3342 · Emmelyn#3342 · Zyana#3342 · Swara#3342 · Azaleah#3342 · Elenora#3342
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zayleigh? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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