Bailie
A feminine name of Scottish origin meaning "court attendant".
Name Census estimates that about 1,605 living Americans carry the first name Bailie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bailie today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bailie births was 1997 (121 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bailie. 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 Bailie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 213,554 Americans
Peak year
1997
121 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,224
Tracked since 1984
Census
Bailie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,452 people with the first name Bailie, which placed it at #9,530 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
#9,530
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,452 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bailie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bailie is White at 86.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.2%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Bailie 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 Bailie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.6% · 1,258
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 76
- Two or more races3.5% · 51
- Black or African American3.3% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 7
Popularity
Bailie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bailie from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 803 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bailie 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 Bailie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bailies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Bailie, while Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bailie
The name Bailie is a Scottish diminutive form of the name Baillie, derived from the Old French word "baillie" meaning "steward" or "officer of the court." It emerged during the Middle Ages in Scotland, where the Baillie was an important administrative and judicial position.
The earliest recorded use of the name Bailie dates back to the 13th century in Scotland, where it was often used as a surname for those who held the position of Baillie. One notable historical figure with this name was Sir William Baillie (c. 1268-1315), a Scottish nobleman and participant in the Wars of Scottish Independence against England.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Bailie became more commonly used as a given name, particularly among Scottish families with connections to the legal or administrative professions. One famous bearer of the name was Robert Baillie (1599-1662), a Scottish Presbyterian minister and principal of the University of Glasgow, who played a significant role in the Solemn League and Covenant during the English Civil War.
In the 18th century, the name Bailie gained popularity beyond Scotland, with notable individuals such as Baillie Waveney Noel (1775-1843), an English soldier and Member of Parliament. Another prominent figure was Baillie Cochrane (1758-1829), a Scottish naval officer and politician who served as Governor of the Leeward Islands.
The 19th century saw the name Bailie continue to be used across the United Kingdom and its colonies. One notable example was Bailie Grohman (1838-1913), an English author and sportsman who wrote extensively about hunting and outdoor pursuits. In Australia, Bailie Paten Henderson (1804-1886) was a prominent pastoralist and landowner in the colony of New South Wales.
While the name Bailie has its origins in Scotland and was particularly prevalent among Scottish families, it has been used throughout the English-speaking world, often associated with individuals involved in law, politics, or administration. Its rich history reflects the name's connection to the legal and administrative tradition of medieval Scotland.
People
Bailie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bailie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bailie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bailie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,605 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bailie 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 213,554 US residents.
Is Bailie a common name?
We classify Bailie as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,643 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bailie most popular?
The single biggest year for Bailie was 1997, when 121 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bailie is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bailie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,452 people with the name Bailie, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,530 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 Bailie 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 Bailie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bailie leans strongly female. 1,429 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 28 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Bailie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bailie is White at 86.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.2%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Bailie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bailie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.6% (1,258 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 Bailie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bailie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bailie 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 Bailie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bailie 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 Bailie 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 Bailie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.