Dailey
From an English surname meaning "one who lived near a meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 304 living Americans carry the first name Dailey. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Dailey today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dailey births was 2016 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dailey. 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
304
~ 1 in 1,127,481 Americans
Peak year
2016
18 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2016 SSA rank
#9,042
Tracked since 1903
Gender
Gender distribution for Dailey
Dailey is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 371 total registrations, 102 (27.5%) were male and 269 (72.5%) were female.
Dailey as a male name
- Ranked #12,591 in 2016
- 5 male births in 2016
- Peak: 1919 (7 births)
Dailey as a female name
- Ranked #9,042 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (16 births)
Popularity
Dailey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dailey from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 105 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Dailey remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dailey 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 Dailey 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 Dailey
The name Dailey is an English surname that has its origins in the Old English word "dæge," which means "day." It was originally used as a descriptive name for someone who worked during the day, possibly as a laborer or servant. The name can also be traced back to the Old French "daille," meaning a strip of land or a clearing in a forest.
In terms of historical references, the name Dailey does not appear to have any significant mentions in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, there are a few notable individuals throughout history who bore this name.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Dailey is John Dailey, who lived in the 16th century and was a Scottish landowner and nobleman. Another early bearer of the name was William Dailey, an English soldier who fought in the English Civil War during the 17th century.
In the 18th century, there was Thomas Dailey, an Irish-born American merchant and politician who served as a member of the Continental Congress during the American Revolutionary War. He was born in 1741 and died in 1809.
Moving into the 19th century, one notable figure was James Dailey, an American politician from Ohio who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1855 to 1859.
In more recent history, there was Michael Dailey, an American actor and singer who was born in 1952 and is best known for his role in the TV series "One Life to Live." He passed away in 2022.
Another individual worth mentioning is Peter Dailey, an American author and historian who has written several books on the history of New York City. He was born in 1944 and is still active in his field.
Overall, while the name Dailey may not have a particularly rich or extensive historical background, it has been borne by a diverse array of individuals throughout the centuries, ranging from landowners and soldiers to politicians, actors, and authors.
People
Dailey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dailey as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dailey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dailey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 304 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dailey 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 1,127,481 US residents.
Is Dailey a common name?
We classify Dailey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 371 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dailey most popular?
The single biggest year for Dailey was 2016, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dailey is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dailey a female name?
Yes, 72.5% of people registered as Dailey 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.
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.