girl's name
Hailey
HAY-lee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 204,225
the United States
#104
2025 births
Hailey is a girl's name of English origin meaning "hay clearing," from the Old English heg, hay, and leah, a woodland clearing. It began as a place name and surname, and its modern use as a girl's first name is recent.
- Hailey is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2003, when 8,808 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 1,295 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1922.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Hailey over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1920s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1920s | 12 |
| 1960s | 25 |
| 1970s | 397 |
| 1980s | 3,609 |
| 1990s | 30,362 |
| 2000s | 82,128 |
| 2010s | 47,782 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 17,395 |
What Hailey means
Hailey means hay meadow or hay clearing, describing land where hay was cut. Like most -ley names it is topographic, naming the place a family came from rather than any quality of the family.
Where Hailey comes from
Hailey comes from English places named Hailey or Hayley, combining the Old English heg, hay, with leah, a woodland clearing — the same second element behind Ashley, Bradley and Wesley. Villages of the name exist in Oxfordshire and elsewhere, and the surname derives from them. Its use as a girl's given name is modern and largely American, and it has generated an unusually large family of respellings — Haley, Haylee, Hayleigh, Haleigh — which between them split what would otherwise be a considerably higher combined ranking.
Hailey in use
Hailey's many respellings — Haley, Haylee, Hayleigh, Haleigh — split a single name across several ranking positions.
How popular is Hailey?
In 2025, Hailey was given to 2,561 babies in the United States, ranking #104 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Hailey is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Hailey is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Haïley | Haïley is Hailey written with a diaeresis, used in France, where it ranks #820. | 465 |
Names that peaked alongside Hailey
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Hailey also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Hailey over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Hailey in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Hailey
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Hailey — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Hailey
What does the name Hailey mean?
Hailey means "hay clearing," from the Old English heg and leah.
What is the difference between Hailey and Haley?
Only spelling. The name has many variants, which split its ranking across several entries.
Was Hailey originally a surname?
Yes, from English villages of that name.
How popular is the name Hailey?
In 2025, Hailey was given to 2,561 babies in the United States, ranking #104 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Hailey a girl's or a boy's name?
Hailey is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Hailey?
Hailey has 2 syllables.
Is Hailey a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Hailey currently ranks #60 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.