Baleigh
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of Bailey.
Name Census estimates that about 1,857 living Americans carry the first name Baleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Baleigh today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Baleigh births was 1999 (98 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Baleigh. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 184,574 Americans
Peak year
1999
98 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,626
Tracked since 1988
Popularity
Baleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Baleigh from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 738 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
Baleigh 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 Baleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Baleighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Baleigh, while New York, Kansas, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Baleigh
The name Baleigh is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, deriving from the word "bæl", meaning "fire" or "blaze". It is thought to have first emerged in the Anglo-Saxon period, between the 5th and 11th centuries AD, in the regions that now make up parts of England and southern Scotland.
During the Middle Ages, variations of the name, such as "Balegh" and "Baleigh", appeared in historical records and ancient texts. One of the earliest known references can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholdings and resources in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
While the name was not particularly widespread during medieval times, there are a few notable historical figures who bore variations of the name Baleigh. One such individual was Sir Walter Baleigh (1554-1618), an English aristocrat, writer, poet, and explorer who was a prominent figure during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Another notable bearer of the name was Baleigh Browne (1605-1669), an English Puritan minister and one of the founders of the settlement of Providence Plantations, which later became the colony of Rhode Island. He was an influential figure in the early colonial history of New England.
In the 19th century, Baleigh Munger (1818-1891) was an American businessman and politician from New York, who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1863 to 1865.
Crossing over into the 20th century, Baleigh Patton (1901-1984) was an American college basketball coach who led the University of Oklahoma to several conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances.
While the name Baleigh has never been extremely common, it has persisted throughout history, carrying with it a sense of strength and vigor, perhaps reflecting its fiery origins in Old English.
People
Baleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Baleigh 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
Baleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Baleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,857 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Baleigh 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 184,574 US residents.
Is Baleigh a common name?
We classify Baleigh as "Rare". It ranks above 93.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,889 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Baleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Baleigh was 1999, when 98 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Baleigh is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Baleigh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Baleigh 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.