Burleigh
An English surname origin, meaning a meadow or grassy field.
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the first name Burleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Burleigh today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Burleigh births was 1932 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Burleigh. 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
- • The typical person named Burleigh is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Burleighs were born before 1958.
People living today
125
~ 1 in 2,742,035 Americans
Peak year
1932
29 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1971 SSA rank
#5,003
Tracked since 1892
Census
Burleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 243 people with the first name Burleigh, which placed it at #33,857 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
#33,857
National first-name rank
People counted
243
243 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Burleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Burleigh is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (14.8%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.7%). 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 Burleigh 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 Burleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.9% · 182
- Black or African American14.8% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.7% · 9
- Two or more races3.7% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 3
Popularity
Burleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Burleigh from the 1890s through to the 1970s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 137 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Burleigh 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 Burleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Burleighs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Burleigh
Burleigh is an English given name derived from the Old English words "burh" meaning "fortified town" and "leah" meaning "clearing in a forest". Its origins can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period in England, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD.
In the early medieval period, the name was likely associated with individuals who lived near or in a fortified town or settlement within a clearing in the surrounding woodlands. The combination of these two elements suggests a connection to the rural landscapes and defensive structures of that era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Burleigh can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appears in various spellings such as "Burgelai" and "Burghleigh", indicating its long-standing presence in the English language.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Burleigh. For example, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520-1598), was an influential English statesman and Lord High Treasurer during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He played a crucial role in the establishment of the Anglican Church and the development of English Renaissance culture.
Another prominent figure was Lord Walter Burleigh (1275-1344), an English nobleman and military commander who served under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War against France. He participated in significant battles such as the Battle of Crécy in 1346.
In the literary world, Burleigh is associated with the English poet and playwright William Somervile (1675-1742), best known for his hunting poem "The Chace". He was born at Edstone, Warwickshire, and his works reflect the rural landscapes of his time.
The name Burleigh also appears in religious contexts. One example is Samuel Burleigh (1631-1692), an English clergyman and author who served as the Bishop of Gloucester and later the Bishop of Carlisle in the late 17th century.
More recently, the name Burleigh was borne by the American composer and pianist Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949), renowned for his contributions to the development of African American spiritual music and his collaborations with renowned composers like Antonín Dvořák.
People
Burleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Burleigh 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
Burleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Burleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 125 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Burleigh 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 2,742,035 US residents.
Is Burleigh a common name?
We classify Burleigh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 467 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Burleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Burleigh was 1932, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Burleigh is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Burleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 243 people with the name Burleigh, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,857 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 Burleigh 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 Burleigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Burleigh leans strongly male. 217 people counted with this name were male (92.7%), compared with 17 female bearers (7.3%). 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 Burleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Burleigh is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (14.8%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.7%). 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 Burleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Burleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (182 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 Burleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Burleigh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Burleigh in the SSA data are male. 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 Burleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Burleigh 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 Burleigh 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 Burleigh?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.