Haleigh
A feminine given name of English origin meaning "hay meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 13,960 living Americans carry the first name Haleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Haleigh today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Haleigh births was 2000 (789 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Haleigh. 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 Haleigh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 24,553 Americans
Peak year
2000
789 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2004 SSA rank
#4,220
Tracked since 1978
Census
Haleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,105 people with the first name Haleigh, which placed it at #2,185 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
#2,185
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,105 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Haleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haleigh is White at 83.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Haleigh 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 Haleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.6% · 10,115
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 641
- Black or African American5.3% · 640
- Two or more races4.6% · 557
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 94
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 58
Gender
Gender distribution for Haleigh
Out of the 14,259 babies given the name Haleigh since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Haleigh as a male name
- Ranked #7,755 in 2004
- 9 male births in 2004
- Peak: 2004 (9 births)
Haleigh as a female name
- Ranked #4,220 in 2024
- 34 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (789 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Haleigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 12,104 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Haleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Haleigh from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6,046 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
Haleigh 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 Haleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Haleighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Texas, Florida, Georgia recorded the most babies named Haleigh, while Vermont, Idaho, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 279 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Haleigh
The name Haleigh is a relatively modern English variant of the more traditional name Haley, which has its origins in the Old English words "hæ" meaning "heathland, meadow" and "leah" meaning "clearing, meadow." The name Haley was initially used as a surname, referring to someone who lived near or worked on a meadow or clearing.
While the exact origin of the spelling "Haleigh" is unclear, it likely emerged as a creative variant in the 20th century, possibly influenced by the increasing popularity of unique and unconventional name spellings. This spelling variation may have been an attempt to add a touch of distinctiveness or femininity to the traditionally more unisex name Haley.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Haleigh can be found in the 1940s, when it began appearing sporadically in birth records across various English-speaking countries. However, it remained relatively uncommon until the late 20th century when it experienced a surge in popularity, particularly in the United States.
Throughout history, there have been a few notable individuals who bore the name Haleigh or its variants. One of the earliest was Haleigh Brewer (1588-1670), an English writer and philosopher who authored several treatises on religion and morality. Another notable figure was Haleigh Fitzpatrick (1795-1879), an Irish-American politician who served as the 14th Governor of Alabama from 1845 to 1847.
In more recent times, Haleigh Cummings (b. 2003) gained national attention in the United States when she went missing from her Florida home in 2009 at the age of 5, sparking a highly publicized search and investigation. Haleigh Broucher (b. 1994) is an American actress and singer who rose to fame as a child star in the early 2000s, appearing in various television shows and films.
Additionally, Haleigh Raff (b. 1989) is a Canadian model and television personality who has appeared on several reality shows, while Haleigh Bryant (b. 1991) is an American professional soccer player who has represented the United States women's national soccer team.
People
Haleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Haleigh 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
Haleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Haleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,960 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Haleigh 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 24,553 US residents.
Is Haleigh a common name?
We classify Haleigh as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,259 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Haleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Haleigh was 2000, when 789 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Haleigh is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Haleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,105 people with the name Haleigh, or 4.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,185 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 Haleigh 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 Haleigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Haleigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 12,104 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Haleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haleigh is White at 83.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Haleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Haleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.6% (10,115 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 Haleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Haleigh a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Haleigh 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 Haleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Haleigh 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 Haleigh 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 common is the name Haleigh?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.