Cailie
Anglicized form of Scottish Caelie, feminine pet form of Gaelic Calum meaning "dove".
Name Census estimates that about 215 living Americans carry the first name Cailie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cailie today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cailie births was 2003 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cailie. 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
215
~ 1 in 1,594,206 Americans
Peak year
2003
17 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2018 SSA rank
#16,134
Tracked since 1990
Census
Cailie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 214 people with the first name Cailie, which placed it at #36,840 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
#36,840
National first-name rank
People counted
214
214 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cailie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cailie is White at 79.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.8%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Cailie 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 Cailie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.9% · 171
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 21
- Two or more races4.7% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 6
- Black or African American1.9% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
Popularity
Cailie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cailie 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 93 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Cailie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cailie 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 Cailie 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 Cailie
The name Cailie is believed to have originated from the Scottish Gaelic language, with its roots traced back to the medieval period in Scotland. It is derived from the Gaelic word "cailleach," which means "old woman" or "nun." The name was traditionally associated with wisdom, reverence, and devotion.
In ancient Celtic mythology, the Cailleach was a powerful and respected figure, often depicted as a crone or a veiled woman carrying a staff. She was associated with the changing seasons, particularly the transition from winter to spring, and was revered as a symbol of renewal and rebirth.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cailie can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a medieval Irish chronicle dating back to the 15th century. It mentions a woman named "Cailleach Bérre" who was believed to be a powerful druidess or wise woman.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Cailie or its variations. One such figure was Cailie MacPherson (1792-1867), a Scottish poet and storyteller from the Highlands, renowned for her preservation of traditional Gaelic folklore and ballads.
Another prominent figure was Cailie Douglas (1837-1912), a Scottish-American educator and philanthropist who established several schools and educational institutions in the United States, promoting education for women and underprivileged communities.
In the realm of literature, Cailie Graham (1891-1971) was a Scottish novelist and short story writer, known for her vivid depictions of rural life in the Scottish Highlands and her exploration of themes related to love, loss, and the human condition.
The name Cailie also gained recognition in the field of art through Cailie Fergusson (1928-2009), a Canadian painter and printmaker celebrated for her abstract expressionist works and her contributions to the Vancouver art scene.
Another notable figure was Cailie MacLeod (1922-2003), a Scottish singer and composer who played a significant role in preserving and promoting traditional Scottish music, particularly the Gaelic song tradition of the Hebrides Islands.
While the name Cailie has deep roots in Scottish and Celtic culture, it has since gained popularity and recognition across various regions and communities, embraced for its historical significance and connection to wisdom, reverence, and the natural world.
People
Cailie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cailie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cailie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cailie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 215 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cailie 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 1,594,206 US residents.
Is Cailie a common name?
We classify Cailie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 219 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cailie most popular?
The single biggest year for Cailie was 2003, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cailie is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cailie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 214 people with the name Cailie, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,840 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 Cailie 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 Cailie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cailie appears almost entirely female. Of the 223 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Cailie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cailie is White at 79.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.8%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Cailie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cailie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.9% (171 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 Cailie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cailie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cailie 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 Cailie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cailie 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 Cailie 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 Cailie?
Find out how many Americans are named Cailie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.