Haileigh
A feminine name of English origin meaning "hay meadow near a town".
Name Census estimates that about 1,799 living Americans carry the first name Haileigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Haileigh today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Haileigh births was 2002 (115 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Haileigh. 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
1.8K
~ 1 in 190,525 Americans
Peak year
2002
115 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,531
Tracked since 1989
Census
Haileigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,463 people with the first name Haileigh, which placed it at #9,484 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
#9,484
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,463 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Haileigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haileigh is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Black (6.8%). 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 Haileigh 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 Haileigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.4% · 1,147
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 123
- Black or African American6.8% · 100
- Two or more races5.0% · 73
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 8
Popularity
Haileigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Haileigh from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 965 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
Haileigh 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 Haileigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Haileighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Haileigh, while Oklahoma, Missouri, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Haileigh
The name Haileigh is a modern English variant of the name Hayley, which itself is a respelling of the English name Hailey. The name Hailey is derived from the Old English word 'hæg' meaning 'hay' or 'hedge'. It is believed to have originally been a surname that later transitioned into a given name.
The earliest recorded use of the name Hailey dates back to the 13th century in England. It was initially used as a surname, likely referring to someone who lived near a hedge or worked with hay. Over time, the name gradually transitioned into use as a given name, particularly for females.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Hailey was Hailey Esmonde (born in 1463), an English noblewoman who was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth of York. Another early bearer of the name was Hailey Coxe (1552-1628), an English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1628.
In the 18th century, the name gained popularity in the United States, with notable individuals such as Hailey Burr (1734-1784), a Revolutionary War soldier and aide-de-camp to General George Washington. Another prominent figure was Hailey Fitch (1798-1865), an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Indiana in the 1830s.
The variant spelling Haileigh emerged in the late 20th century as a creative respelling of the traditional Hailey. While its origins are unclear, it is likely an attempt to create a more unique or personalized version of the name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the spelling Haileigh was Haileigh Woodard, an American author and screenwriter born in 1961. Other notable bearers of the name include Haileigh Grimes (born 1978), an American professional wrestler, and Haileigh Rohr (born 1986), an American soccer player.
People
Haileigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Haileigh 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
Haileigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Haileigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,799 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Haileigh 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 190,525 US residents.
Is Haileigh a common name?
We classify Haileigh as "Rare". It ranks above 93.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,828 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Haileigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Haileigh was 2002, when 115 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Haileigh is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Haileigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,463 people with the name Haileigh, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,484 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 Haileigh 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 Haileigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Haileigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,460 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 Haileigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haileigh is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Black (6.8%). 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 Haileigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Haileigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.4% (1,147 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 Haileigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Haileigh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Haileigh 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 Haileigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Haileigh 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 Haileigh 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 Haileigh?
See how many people share the name Haileigh on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.