Bayle
Of Celtic origin meaning "brave and loyal companion."
Name Census estimates that about 244 living Americans carry the first name Bayle. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Bayle today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bayle births was 1998 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bayle. 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
244
~ 1 in 1,404,731 Americans
Peak year
1998
23 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2001 SSA rank
#10,742
Tracked since 1990
Census
Bayle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 338 people with the first name Bayle, which placed it at #27,177 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
#27,177
National first-name rank
People counted
338
338 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bayle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bayle is White at 73.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.2%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Bayle 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 Bayle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.7% · 249
- Hispanic or Latino9.2% · 31
- Black or African American8.0% · 27
- Two or more races3.8% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Bayle
Bayle leans heavily female at 88.8% of total registrations, but 28 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bayle as a male name
- Ranked #10,742 in 2001
- 5 male births in 2001
- Peak: 1997 (8 births)
Bayle as a female name
- Ranked #13,394 in 2013
- 7 female births in 2013
- Peak: 2006 (20 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bayle leans strongly female. 287 people counted with this name were female (84.4%), compared with 53 male bearers (15.6%).
Popularity
Bayle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bayle from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 122 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
Bayle 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 Bayle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bayles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bayle
The given name Bayle is thought to have originated from the Old French language, derived from the word "baile," which means "sergeant-at-arms" or "bailiff." This occupation-based name can be traced back to the Middle Ages, around the 12th to 15th centuries, in regions of modern-day France and parts of northern Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bayle dates back to the 13th century, when a Bayle de Miribel was mentioned in historical records from the county of Savoy, now part of modern-day France and Switzerland. In the 14th century, a Bayle de Nantua was recorded as a notable figure in the same region.
Perhaps the most famous historical figure to bear the name Bayle was Pierre Bayle, a influential French philosopher and writer born in 1647 and died in 1706. He is best known for his work "Dictionnaire Historique et Critique" (Historical and Critical Dictionary), which challenged religious orthodoxy and promoted religious toleration.
Another notable individual with the name Bayle was Gaspard de Bayle, a French naval officer and explorer who lived from 1623 to 1689. He is remembered for his expeditions to the Caribbean and his role in the establishment of French colonies in the region.
In the realm of literature, Bayle de Nanfray was a French poet and dramatist who lived from the late 16th to early 17th century. He is known for his works such as "La Tragédie d'Octavie" and "La Tragédie de Cléopâtre."
Moving to the 19th century, Bayle Mouillard was a French architect and engineer born in 1825 and died in 1899. He designed several notable buildings in Paris, including the Hôtel de la Terrasse and the Palais du Louvre's Pavillon de Marsan.
Finally, in the field of sports, Bayle Worfolk was an English cricketer who played for Hampshire County Cricket Club in the late 19th century. He was born in 1854 and died in 1919.
People
Bayle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bayle 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
Bayle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bayle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 244 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bayle 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 1,404,731 US residents.
Is Bayle a common name?
We classify Bayle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 249 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bayle most popular?
The single biggest year for Bayle was 1998, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bayle 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 Bayle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 338 people with the name Bayle, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,177 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 Bayle 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 Bayle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bayle leans strongly female. 287 people counted with this name were female (84.4%), compared with 53 male bearers (15.6%). 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 Bayle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bayle is White at 73.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.2%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Bayle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bayle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.7% (249 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 Bayle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bayle a female name?
Yes, 88.8% of people registered as Bayle 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 Bayle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bayle 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 Bayle 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 Bayle?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Bayle, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.