Bayly
A masculine name of English origin meaning "from the bay meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 62 living Americans carry the first name Bayly. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Bayly today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bayly births was 1999 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bayly. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Bayly. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
62
~ 1 in 5,528,296 Americans
Peak year
1999
13 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2000 SSA rank
#9,203
Tracked since 1996
Census
Bayly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 154 people with the first name Bayly, which placed it at #44,677 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
#44,677
National first-name rank
People counted
154
154 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bayly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bayly is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Bayly 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 Bayly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.5% · 124
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 10
- Two or more races5.8% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.2% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Bayly
Bayly leans heavily female at 81.0% of total registrations, but 12 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bayly as a male name
- Ranked #9,203 in 2000
- 6 male births in 2000
- Peak: 1999 (6 births)
Bayly as a female name
- Ranked #16,949 in 2013
- 5 female births in 2013
- Peak: 1996 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bayly on both sides of the split. Of the 154 people counted with this name, 40 were male (26.0%) and 114 were female (74.0%).
Popularity
Bayly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bayly from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 29 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Bayly remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bayly 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 Bayly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bayly
The name Bayly is believed to have originated from the Old French word "baillif," which means "bailiff" or "steward." This name has its roots in the medieval period, when bailiffs were responsible for overseeing and managing various aspects of a feudal estate or manor.
During the Middle Ages, the name Bayly was primarily associated with individuals who held the position of a bailiff or steward, serving under a lord or noble. It was a title that carried a certain degree of authority and responsibility within the feudal system.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Bayly can be traced back to England and France in the 13th and 14th centuries. In England, the name appeared in various historical records, such as court rolls and tax records, reflecting the presence of individuals holding the position of bailiff.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Bayly was Sir Edmund Bayly, an English judge and politician who lived in the 16th century (c. 1525-1610). He served as a Member of Parliament and held the position of Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
Another prominent individual with the name Bayly was Thomas Hayward Bayly (1797-1839), an English songwriter and playwright. He was renowned for his popular songs and plays, which gained widespread recognition during the early 19th century.
In the realm of literature, Lewis Bayly (1565-1631) was an English churchman and author. He is best known for his work "The Practice of Piety," which was a influential devotional book widely read in the 17th century.
Moving to the 18th century, Anselm Bayly (1719-1794) was an English clergyman and writer who served as the Sub-Dean of the Chapel Royal and held other ecclesiastical positions.
Lastly, Walter Bayly (1529-1592) was an English scholar and theologian who played a significant role in the English Reformation. He served as the Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford and was known for his contributions to biblical scholarship.
While the name Bayly has its roots in the feudal system and the position of a bailiff, it has evolved over time and has been adopted by individuals from various walks of life, including judges, writers, clergymen, and scholars.
People
Bayly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bayly 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
Bayly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bayly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 62 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bayly 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 5,528,296 US residents.
Is Bayly a common name?
We classify Bayly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 63 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bayly most popular?
The single biggest year for Bayly was 1999, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bayly is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bayly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 154 people with the name Bayly, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,677 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 Bayly 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 Bayly?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bayly on both sides of the split. Of the 154 people counted with this name, 40 were male (26.0%) and 114 were female (74.0%). 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 Bayly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bayly is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Bayly most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bayly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.5% (124 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 Bayly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bayly a female name?
Yes, 81.0% of people registered as Bayly 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 Bayly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bayly 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 Bayly 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 are called Bayly?
You can see how many Americans are named Bayly on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.