Hailei
Feminine variant of Hailey, of English origin meaning "hay meadow clearing".
Name Census estimates that about 283 living Americans carry the first name Hailei. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hailei today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hailei births was 2000 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hailei. 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
283
~ 1 in 1,211,146 Americans
Peak year
2000
26 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2017 SSA rank
#16,755
Tracked since 1994
Census
Hailei in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 278 people with the first name Hailei, which placed it at #31,017 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
#31,017
National first-name rank
People counted
278
278 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hailei
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hailei is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.5%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Hailei 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 Hailei at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.2% · 134
- Hispanic or Latino15.5% · 43
- Black or African American14.7% · 41
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.5% · 32
- Two or more races8.3% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 5
Popularity
Hailei: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hailei 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 191 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hailei 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 Hailei during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Haileis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hailei
The given name Hailei does not appear to have a definitive historical origin or etymological background. It is likely a modern invented name, potentially derived from a combination of existing names or words, but without a clear cultural or linguistic root.
While the name Hailei may share some similarities with names from various cultures, such as the Hawaiian name Hailey or the Hebrew name Haley, there is no evidence to suggest a direct connection or derivation from these sources. The unique spelling "Hailei" sets it apart from established name variants.
Due to its unconventional nature, there are no recorded instances of Hailei being used as a given name in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records from traditional name-bearing cultures and civilizations.
In the absence of a long-standing historical lineage, there are no notable historical figures or individuals of significant renown who have been documented as bearing the name Hailei. This name appears to be a relatively recent addition to the lexicon of given names, potentially emerging in the modern era without a rich ancestral backstory.
While modern naming trends often draw inspiration from various sources or involve creative combinations of existing elements, the name Hailei does not seem to have a clearly defined etymology or cultural heritage. It may have been coined as a unique and distinct name without direct ties to established naming traditions or linguistic roots.
People
Hailei + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hailei as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hailei: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hailei?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 283 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hailei 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 1,211,146 US residents.
Is Hailei a common name?
We classify Hailei as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 288 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hailei most popular?
The single biggest year for Hailei was 2000, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hailei is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hailei in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 278 people with the name Hailei, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,017 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 Hailei 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 Hailei?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hailei leans strongly female. 264 people counted with this name were female (94.3%), compared with 16 male bearers (5.7%). 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 Hailei?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hailei is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.5%) and Black (14.7%). 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 Hailei most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hailei in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.2% (134 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 Hailei in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hailei a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hailei 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 Hailei still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hailei 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 Hailei 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 have Hailei as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.