Baylei
A feminine variant of Bailey, meaning "bailiff" or "law enforcer".
Name Census estimates that about 464 living Americans carry the first name Baylei. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Baylei today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Baylei births was 2012 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Baylei. 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
464
~ 1 in 738,695 Americans
Peak year
2012
36 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,681
Tracked since 1996
Census
Baylei in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 344 people with the first name Baylei, which placed it at #26,849 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
#26,849
National first-name rank
People counted
344
344 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Baylei
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Baylei is White at 56.1%. The next largest groups are Black (29.1%) and Hispanic (7.0%). 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 Baylei 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 Baylei at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.1% · 193
- Black or African American29.1% · 100
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 24
- Two or more races5.8% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 3
Popularity
Baylei: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Baylei 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 225 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
Baylei 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 Baylei during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bayleis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Baylei
The name Baylei is a relatively modern English variant of the name Bailey, which itself is derived from the Old French word "baillie" meaning a feudal administrator or governor. The name likely originated in the medieval era in England or France, where it was used as a surname referring to someone who held the position of a bailiff or steward of a manor.
While the name Baylei does not have a particularly long or ancient history, the root name Bailey has been recorded in various forms throughout the centuries. One of the earliest known examples is found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of land ownership and taxation in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name is listed there as "Baillie" and "Bailif."
In terms of historical figures bearing the name, the first notable person was Walter Bailey, who was an English clergyman and author born in 1529. He wrote several religious works and served as the Archdeacon of Surrey in the late 16th century.
Another prominent individual with the name was Anselm Bailey, an English philosopher and writer who lived from 1733 to 1808. He is best known for his work on the philosophy of mind and his critique of David Hume's empiricism.
In the 19th century, one of the most famous Baileys was Theodor Bailey, a German-born American composer and musician born in 1858. He is credited with popularizing the banjo in the United States and composed numerous works for the instrument.
A more recent historical figure was Pearl Bailey, an acclaimed American actress and singer who lived from 1918 to 1990. She was a pioneer in breaking racial barriers in the entertainment industry and won numerous awards, including a Tony Award and an Emmy Award.
Finally, it is worth mentioning David Bailey, the renowned English photographer born in 1938. He is known for his iconic portraits of celebrities and fashion photography, and his work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications worldwide.
Overall, while the name Baylei may be a modern variation, it has roots in medieval times and has been borne by various notable figures throughout history, particularly in the fields of religion, philosophy, music, and the arts.
People
Baylei + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Baylei 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
Baylei: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Baylei?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 464 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Baylei 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 738,695 US residents.
Is Baylei a common name?
We classify Baylei as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 469 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Baylei most popular?
The single biggest year for Baylei was 2012, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Baylei is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Baylei in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 344 people with the name Baylei, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,849 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 Baylei 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 Baylei?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Baylei leans strongly female. 340 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 8 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 Baylei?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Baylei is White at 56.1%. The next largest groups are Black (29.1%) and Hispanic (7.0%). 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 Baylei most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Baylei in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.1% (193 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 Baylei in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Baylei a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Baylei 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 Baylei still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Baylei 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 Baylei 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 Baylei?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.