Ailey
Uncommon baby name of unknown origin, possibly an elaboration on Ava or Allie.
Name Census estimates that about 935 living Americans carry the first name Ailey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ailey today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ailey births was 2008 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ailey. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ailey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
935
~ 1 in 366,582 Americans
Peak year
2008
71 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,427
Tracked since 1992
Census
Ailey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 798 people with the first name Ailey, which placed it at #14,688 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,688
National first-name rank
People counted
798
798 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ailey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ailey is White at 63.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.0%) and Two or More Races (8.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ailey described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ailey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.9% · 510
- Hispanic or Latino15.0% · 120
- Two or more races8.3% · 66
- Black or African American6.1% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
Popularity
Ailey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ailey from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 499 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ailey 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 Ailey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aileys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Ailey, while North Carolina, Florida, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ailey
The name Ailey is a modern English variant of the French name Alix, which ultimately derives from the Germanic name Adeliz or Adalheidis. The name can be traced back to the 8th century and is composed of the Germanic elements "adal" meaning "noble" and "heid" meaning "kind, sort, type."
This name was borne by several historical figures, including Adela of Normandy (c. 1067-1137), Countess of Blois and one of the daughters of William the Conqueror. Another notable bearer was Adela of Lotharingia (c. 945-c. 960), a member of the Carolingian dynasty who was briefly engaged to the future Holy Roman Emperor Otto II.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name in its modern Ailey form was Ailey Ousley (1818-1900), an American pioneer and early settler in Texas. Another notable Ailey was Ailey Mae Elliott (1866-1966), an American educator and activist from North Carolina who worked to establish schools for African American children.
Perhaps the most famous bearer of the name was Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), the influential American dancer and choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant choreographers of the 20th century and played a crucial role in promoting African American culture through dance.
Other notable individuals named Ailey include Ailey Morse Craven (1833-1915), an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri, and Ailey Roshon (born 1995), an American actress and singer known for her role in the Disney Channel series Shake It Up.
While the name Ailey has been used throughout history, it remains a relatively uncommon name, especially in its modern spelling variation. However, its origins in the Germanic language and its connections to historical figures and cultural icons have contributed to its enduring appeal as a unique and distinctive given name.
People
Ailey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ailey 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
Ailey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ailey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 935 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ailey 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 366,582 US residents.
Is Ailey a common name?
We classify Ailey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 944 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ailey most popular?
The single biggest year for Ailey was 2008, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ailey is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ailey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 798 people with the name Ailey, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,688 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ailey in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ailey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ailey leans strongly female. 782 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 18 male bearers (2.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ailey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ailey is White at 63.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.0%) and Two or More Races (8.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ailey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ailey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.9% (510 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ailey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ailey a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ailey 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.
Is Ailey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ailey in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ailey can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people have the name Ailey?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.