Caisley
A feminine name of English origin meaning "from the chalky meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 181 living Americans carry the first name Caisley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caisley today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caisley births was 2019 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caisley. 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
181
~ 1 in 1,893,670 Americans
Peak year
2019
23 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,416
Tracked since 2013
Popularity
Caisley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caisley from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 97 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caisley 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 Caisley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caisleys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Caisley
Caisley is a given name with origins tracing back to the Scottish Highlands. It is believed to have derived from the Gaelic words "caisle" meaning "castle" and "sliabh" meaning "moor" or "mountainside". This suggests the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near or oversaw a castle on a moor or mountainside.
The earliest recorded use of the name Caisley can be found in historical records from the 16th century in the Scottish Lowlands. It was primarily used as a surname during this time period but eventually transitioned to being used as a given name as well.
One of the first notable individuals with the name Caisley was Sir Caisley MacKenzie, a Scottish nobleman and landowner who lived from 1590 to 1668. He was a prominent figure in the Scottish Highlands and played a role in the conflicts between the Royalists and Covenanters during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Another historical figure with the name Caisley was Caisley Campbell, an 18th-century Scottish poet and writer born in 1712. He is best known for his collection of poems titled "The Highlands Revisited", which celebrated the beauty and culture of the Scottish Highlands.
In the 19th century, Caisley Stewart was a notable Scottish explorer and adventurer. Born in 1825, he embarked on several expeditions to Africa and was one of the first Europeans to extensively document the geography and cultures of the interior regions of the continent.
Moving into the 20th century, Caisley MacDonald was a Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist who lived from 1901 to 1989. He made his fortune in the oil industry and later donated substantial amounts of money to various educational and cultural institutions in Scotland.
Another individual with the name Caisley who left a lasting impact was Caisley Ferguson, a Scottish historian and academic who lived from 1920 to 2005. She was a renowned expert on the history of the Scottish Highlands and published several influential works on the subject throughout her career.
People
Caisley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caisley 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
Caisley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caisley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 181 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caisley 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 1,893,670 US residents.
Is Caisley a common name?
We classify Caisley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 182 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caisley most popular?
The single biggest year for Caisley was 2019, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caisley is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Caisley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caisley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caisley 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 Caisley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caisley 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 Caisley 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Caisley?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.