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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Haley with official rankings and popularity over time.
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
Census
Haley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 144,725 people with the first name Haley, which placed it at #388 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
#388
National first-name rank
People counted
145K
144,725 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
47.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Haley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haley is White at 84.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Haley 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 Haley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.2% · 121,847
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 10,010
- Two or more races4.3% · 6,281
- Black or African American2.4% · 3,418
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 2,238
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 931
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)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Haley appears almost entirely female. Of the 144,722 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
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.
How common was Haley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 144,725 people with the name Haley, or 47.92 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #388 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 Haley 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 Haley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Haley appears almost entirely female. Of the 144,722 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Haley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haley is White at 84.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Haley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Haley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.2% (121,847 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 Haley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Haley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Haley 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 Haley 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 Haley?
Find out how many Americans are named Haley on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.