Haley
A name derived from a place name meaning meadow-dweller.
Name Census estimates that about 155,392 living Americans carry the first name Haley. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Haley today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Haley births was 2000 (9,100 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Haley. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Haley is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 836 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Haley have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
155K
~ 1 in 2,206 Americans
Peak year
2000
9,100 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2017 SSA rank
#779
Tracked since 1890
Gender
Gender distribution for Haley
Out of the 160,023 babies given the name Haley since 1880, 99.5% 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.
Haley as a male name
- Ranked #11,248 in 2017
- 6 male births in 2017
- Peak: 2004 (47 births)
Haley as a female name
- Ranked #779 in 2024
- 361 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (9,069 births)
Popularity
Haley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Haley from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 71,438 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Haley 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 Haley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Haleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Haley, while District of Columbia, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,088 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Haley
The name Haley has its origins in the English language and is thought to have derived from the Old English word "hæle," which means "hero" or "healthy." It was initially a surname that later transitioned into a given name.
During the Middle Ages, the name Haley was primarily used as a surname in England. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name dates back to the 13th century, when a man named Richard Haley was mentioned in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1273.
The name Haley gained popularity as a given name in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name being used as a first name was Haley Stevens, an American actress born in 1873 who appeared in several silent films in the early 1900s.
Another notable bearer of the name was Haley Earhart, an American pilot and author born in 1897. She was the sister of the famous aviator Amelia Earhart and co-authored several books about their flying adventures.
In the realm of literature, Haley Joel Osment is an American actor born in 1988 who achieved fame as a child star for his performance in the acclaimed film "The Sixth Sense" in 1999.
The name Haley has also been associated with the music industry. Haley Reinhart, an American singer-songwriter born in 1990, gained recognition as a contestant on the tenth season of American Idol in 2011.
One of the most prominent figures with the name Haley is Alex Haley, an American writer and author of the 1976 book "Roots: The Saga of an American Family." His work explored his ancestry and was instrumental in raising awareness about African American history and heritage.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Haley
People
Haley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Haley 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
Haley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Haley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 155,392 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Haley 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 2,206 US residents.
Is Haley a common name?
We classify Haley as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 160,023 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Haley most popular?
The single biggest year for Haley was 2000, when 9,100 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Haley is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Haley a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Haley 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.