Ailee
A feminine Korean name derived from the English word "alien".
Name Census estimates that about 840 living Americans carry the first name Ailee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ailee today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ailee births was 2022 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ailee. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
840
~ 1 in 408,041 Americans
Peak year
2022
56 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,747
Tracked since 1974
Popularity
Ailee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ailee from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 396 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ailee remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ailee by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ailee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ailees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Ailee, while New York, Massachusetts, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ailee
The name Ailee has its origins in the Middle East, deriving from the Arabic language. It is believed to have emerged sometime in the 7th or 8th century AD during the Islamic Golden Age. The name is a variation of the Arabic name Aaliyah, which translates to "the highest, most exalted one" or "the sublime one."
In ancient Arabic texts, the name Ailee is often associated with descriptions of spiritual enlightenment and divine grace. Some scholars believe it may have been inspired by passages from the Quran that speak of the ascension of the Prophet Muhammad to the heavenly realms.
The earliest recorded mention of the name Ailee can be found in historical documents from the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled over a vast territory spanning parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia between the 8th and 13th centuries. During this period, the name was relatively uncommon but held a significant cultural and religious significance.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Ailee was Ailee bint Al-Rashid, a renowned poet and scholar who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century AD. Her works are preserved in various Arabic literary anthologies and are celebrated for their eloquence and spiritual depth.
In the 12th century, Ailee al-Dimashqi, a Syrian mathematician and astronomer, made notable contributions to the field of trigonometry. Her treatise on the sine quadrant was widely studied and influenced the development of Islamic mathematics and astronomy.
Another historical figure of note is Ailee al-Baghdadi, a 13th-century Sufi mystic and spiritual teacher from Baghdad. Her teachings on the path of divine love and self-realization gained her a devoted following, and her writings continue to be studied by Sufi orders to this day.
In the 16th century, Ailee al-Kurdistani, a Kurdish poet and scholar, gained recognition for her mastery of Arabic literature and her contributions to the preservation of Kurdish cultural heritage.
The name Ailee has also been recorded in ancient Persian texts, indicating its spread and adoption across various Middle Eastern cultures and regions over the centuries.
People
Ailee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ailee as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ailee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ailee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 840 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ailee going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 408,041 US residents.
Is Ailee a common name?
We classify Ailee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 849 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ailee most popular?
The single biggest year for Ailee was 2022, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ailee is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ailee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ailee in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.