Eiley
An English feminine name meaning "bright light" or "life".
Name Census estimates that about 504 living Americans carry the first name Eiley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Eiley today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eiley births was 2024 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eiley. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Eiley with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
504
~ 1 in 680,068 Americans
Peak year
2024
42 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,652
Tracked since 2001
Census
Eiley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 365 people with the first name Eiley, which placed it at #25,801 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
#25,801
National first-name rank
People counted
365
365 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eiley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eiley is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.8%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Eiley 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 Eiley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.4% · 308
- Two or more races5.8% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 10
- Black or African American1.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Eiley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eiley from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 249 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Eiley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eiley 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 Eiley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Eileys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Eiley
Eiley is a modern English name with uncertain origins, but it is believed to be a variant spelling of the name Ailith, which has its roots in the Old English language. The name Ailith was derived from the Old English word "ælfiþ," which means "elf-beautiful" or "elf-bright."
During the Anglo-Saxon period, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th century, names with the element "ælf" were popular, reflecting the importance of elves and other supernatural beings in Germanic folklore and mythology. The name Ailith was particularly prevalent in areas of present-day England and Scotland where the Anglo-Saxons had settled.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Ailith can be traced back to the 10th century in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record of events in Anglo-Saxon England. However, it is worth noting that the name was likely in use before this time, as many names from this era were not recorded or have been lost over the centuries.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Ailith or its variants. One of the earliest recorded figures was Ailith of Whitby, a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon princess who became a nun and later an abbess at the monastery in Whitby, England.
Another notable figure was Ailith of Taunton, a 12th-century English noblewoman who was a benefactor of the Priory of St. John the Baptist in Taunton, Somerset. She is mentioned in several historical records from that period.
In the 13th century, there was Ailith de Furnival, an English heiress and landowner who was involved in a legal dispute over her inheritance. This case was documented in the legal records of the time.
Moving forward to the 16th century, Ailith Allington was a notable figure in Tudor England. She was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I and is mentioned in several contemporary accounts of the royal court.
The most recent historical figure bearing the name Ailith was Ailith Ogilvie, a Scottish aristocrat who lived in the 18th century. She was known for her philanthropic efforts and her support of various charitable causes in Scotland.
While the name Ailith fell out of widespread use in more recent centuries, the variant spelling Eiley has gained popularity in modern times, likely due to its unique and appealing sound. However, its origins and historical significance can be traced back to the Old English roots of Ailith and the fascinating world of Anglo-Saxon culture and folklore.
People
Eiley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eiley as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Eiley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eiley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 504 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eiley 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 680,068 US residents.
Is Eiley a common name?
We classify Eiley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 508 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eiley most popular?
The single biggest year for Eiley was 2024, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eiley is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eiley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 365 people with the name Eiley, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,801 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 Eiley 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 Eiley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eiley appears almost entirely female. Of the 357 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Eiley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eiley is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.8%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Eiley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Eiley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (308 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 Eiley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eiley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Eiley 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 Eiley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eiley 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 Eiley 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 named Eiley?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.