girl's name
Hayley
HAY-lee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 69,549
Ireland
#155
2025 births
Hayley is a girl's name from an English place name meaning "hay clearing," and it became a girl's name because of one child actress. It ranks 155th in Ireland and 1,257th in the United States.
- Hayley is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1993, when 2,624 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 18,522 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1960.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Hayley over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1960s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1960s | 634 |
| 1970s | 1,304 |
| 1980s | 6,115 |
| 1990s | 21,881 |
| 2000s | 13,967 |
| 2010s | 5,701 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,847 |
What Hayley means
Hayley means hay clearing or hay meadow, from the Old English heg, hay, and leah, a woodland clearing. It is a landscape word — the name describes ground that was cleared and cut, not a person.
Where Hayley comes from
Hayley comes from an English surname taken from places called Hailey or Hayley, from the Old English heg, hay, and leah, a clearing in woodland. The leah element is one of the commonest in English place names and gives the -ley in hundreds of them. Its life as a girl's name is precisely datable: Hayley Mills, born 1946 and named for her mother's maiden name, became a Disney star with Pollyanna in 1960 and The Parent Trap in 1961, and the name entered the charts immediately afterward with no earlier history at all. It peaked in the 1980s and 1990s across the English-speaking world. Haley, Hailey, Haylee and Hailee are American respellings that now far outnumber the original in the United States.
Hayley in use
Hayley ranks 155th in Ireland with 31 births in 2025 and 482nd in England and Wales, and it is falling in our data from a peak in 1993. Our records carry it from 1960 — the year of Pollyanna, which is about as clean a demonstration of a single cause as our data offers. The American respellings are counted separately and outrank it there.
How popular is Hayley?
In 2025, Hayley was given to 179 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Hayley 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.
Names that peaked alongside Hayley
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Hayley also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Hayley over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Hayley
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Hayley 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 Hayley
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Hayley — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Hayley
What does the name Hayley mean?
Hayley means "hay clearing," from the Old English heg, hay, and leah, a woodland clearing.
Why did Hayley become a girl's name?
Hayley Mills, named for her mother's maiden name, became a Disney star in 1960 — and our records carry the name only from that year.
What is the difference between Hayley and Hailey?
Hayley is the original English spelling. Hailey and Haley are American respellings that now outnumber it there.
How popular is Hayley?
155th in Ireland and 482nd in England and Wales.
How many syllables are in Hayley?
Hayley has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Hayley?
Hayley is usually shortened to Haley.
Is Hayley a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Hayley currently ranks #155 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.