girl's name
Kayleigh
KAY-lee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Letters 8
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 54,144
the United States
#802
2025 births
Kayleigh is far larger in England than its American figures suggest — 1,206 births in England and Wales in 1996 against a US peak of 1,450, in a country with about a fifth of the population.
- Kayleigh is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2009, when 1,450 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 9,751 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1984.
Kayleigh over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1980s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1980s | 2,677 |
| 1990s | 6,634 |
| 2000s | 11,777 |
| 2010s | 10,235 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,245 |
What Kayleigh means
Kayleigh has no single source. It is generally read as a modern respelling built on Kay or Kayla with the -leigh ending, so any meaning attached to it is inherited rather than original.
Where Kayleigh comes from
Kayleigh is a modern coinage. The -leigh ending is the Old English leah, a woodland clearing, borrowed from surnames as a decorative suffix rather than for its sense. Attempts to link it to the Irish céilí, a gathering with music and dancing, are folk etymology working backward from the sound. Our records begin in 1984, so the name has no history before the late twentieth century in any market we track.
Kayleigh in use
Kayleigh peaked in the United States in 2009, when 1,450 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. England and Wales ran a peak of 1,206 births in 1996, and Scotland 230 in 1992 — proportionally far larger than the American figures, which is unusual for a name usually filed as an American respelling. It now ranks 210th in Ireland on 21 births — its strongest market — then 307th in Northern Ireland, 802nd in the United States on 340, 908th in Scotland on 3 and 1685th in England and Wales on 18, across 54,144 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track.
How popular is Kayleigh?
In 2025, Kayleigh was given to 340 babies in the United States, ranking #802 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Kayleigh 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 Kayleigh is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Kay-Leigh | Kay-Leigh is Kayleigh written with a hyphen, recorded mostly in England and Wales. | 23 |
Names that peaked alongside Kayleigh
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Kayleigh also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Kayleigh over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Kayleigh 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.
- Dutch
- Kaylee
Sibling names for Kayleigh
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Kayleigh — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Kayleigh
What does the name Kayleigh mean?
Nothing original. It is a modern coinage built on Kay with the -leigh ending.
Is Kayleigh Irish?
No. The link to céilí is folk etymology working backward from the sound.
Where is Kayleigh strongest?
Ireland at 210th, and it peaked far higher in England and Wales than the American figures suggest.
How old is the name?
Our records begin in 1984. It has no history before the late twentieth century.
How popular is the name Kayleigh?
In 2025, Kayleigh was given to 340 babies in the United States, ranking #802 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Kayleigh a girl's or a boy's name?
Kayleigh is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Kayleigh most popular?
Kayleigh peaked in 2009, when 1,450 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
Is Kayleigh a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Kayleigh currently ranks #210 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.