Alleigh
A feminine variant of the name Allie, a diminutive of Alice.
Name Census estimates that about 620 living Americans carry the first name Alleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alleigh today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alleigh births was 2012 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alleigh. 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
620
~ 1 in 552,830 Americans
Peak year
2012
43 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,545
Tracked since 1992
Census
Alleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 565 people with the first name Alleigh, which placed it at #18,938 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
#18,938
National first-name rank
People counted
565
565 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alleigh is White at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Alleigh 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 Alleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.2% · 470
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 30
- Two or more races5.3% · 30
- Black or African American4.8% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Popularity
Alleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alleigh from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 267 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alleigh 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 Alleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alleighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Alleigh, while Tennessee, Louisiana, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alleigh
The given name Alleigh is believed to have originated from the Old English language, with its roots dating back to the 5th century CE. It is thought to be derived from the Old English words "ael" meaning "fire" or "bright" and "leah" meaning "woodland clearing" or "meadow". In this sense, the name Alleigh could be interpreted as referring to a bright or radiant clearing in the woods.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alleigh can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals documenting the history of the Anglo-Saxons in England. This entry, dated around 675 CE, mentions an individual named Alleigh who was a landowner in the kingdom of Mercia.
During the Middle Ages, the name Alleigh appears to have been relatively uncommon, but a few notable figures bore this name. Alleigh of Exeter (1120-1189) was a renowned scholar and cleric who served as the Bishop of Exeter in the 12th century. Another prominent individual was Alleigh the Scribe (1245-1312), a skilled calligrapher and illuminator of manuscripts who worked in the abbeys of southern England.
In the Renaissance period, the name Alleigh gained some popularity among the educated classes. Alleigh Fontaine (1510-1572) was a French humanist scholar and writer who contributed to the intellectual climate of the time. Alleigh Pemberton (1556-1632) was an English poet and playwright whose works were performed at the court of King James I.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Alleigh was occasionally used by families of the English gentry and nobility. One notable figure was Alleigh Montague (1675-1747), a prominent landowner and member of Parliament who played a role in the Georgian political landscape.
In more recent times, the name Alleigh has remained relatively rare, but a few individuals have carried it. Alleigh Sinclair (1900-1982) was a Scottish artist and illustrator known for her depictions of rural life and landscapes. Alleigh Wyndham (1920-2005) was an American actress who appeared in several Broadway productions and Hollywood films during the mid-20th century.
People
Alleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alleigh 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
Alleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 620 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alleigh 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 552,830 US residents.
Is Alleigh a common name?
We classify Alleigh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 628 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Alleigh was 2012, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alleigh is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 565 people with the name Alleigh, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,938 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 Alleigh 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 Alleigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alleigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 569 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Alleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alleigh is White at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Alleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.2% (470 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 Alleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alleigh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alleigh 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 Alleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alleigh 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 Alleigh 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 share the name Alleigh?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.