Haly
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "sea."
Name Census estimates that about 114 living Americans carry the first name Haly. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Haly today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Haly births was 2004 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Haly. 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
114
~ 1 in 3,006,617 Americans
Peak year
2004
12 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2012 SSA rank
#15,654
Tracked since 1992
Census
Haly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 247 people with the first name Haly, which placed it at #33,475 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
#33,475
National first-name rank
People counted
247
247 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Haly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haly is White at 55.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.7%). 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 Haly 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 Haly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.1% · 136
- Hispanic or Latino25.1% · 62
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.7% · 24
- Two or more races5.3% · 13
- Black or African American3.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Haly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Haly 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 51 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
Haly 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 Haly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Haly
The name Haly is believed to have originated in the Middle East, deriving from the Arabic word "haly" which means "ornament" or "adornment." It is thought to have first appeared in the region during the 7th century AD, coinciding with the rise of Islam and the spread of Arabic culture and language.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Haly can be found in the writings of the famous medieval Arab philosopher and polymath, Al-Kindi, who lived from around 801 to 873 AD. He is often referred to as the "Father of Arab Philosophy" and is credited with introducing Greek philosophy to the Arabic world.
Another notable figure who bore the name Haly was Haly Abbas, a celebrated Persian physician and philosopher who lived in the 10th century AD. He is best known for his influential medical text, "The Royal Book," which was widely studied and referenced throughout Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages.
In the 12th century, there was a renowned Arab astronomer and mathematician named Haly Abenrudian, who made significant contributions to the field of optics and is credited with developing one of the earliest theories of the rainbow.
Moving forward in time, Haly Pulmonarius was a 13th-century Italian physician and writer who authored several works on medicine, including a treatise on respiratory diseases, which earned him his surname "Pulmonarius" (meaning "of the lungs").
Another noteworthy figure with the name Haly was Haly al-Dimashqi, a 14th-century Arab geographer and traveler who wrote extensively about his journeys throughout the Middle East and North Africa, providing valuable insights into the cultures and landscapes of those regions.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Haly, which has roots dating back centuries and is deeply intertwined with the rich cultural and intellectual heritage of the Middle East and the Islamic world.
People
Haly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Haly 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
Haly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Haly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 114 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Haly 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 3,006,617 US residents.
Is Haly a common name?
We classify Haly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Haly most popular?
The single biggest year for Haly was 2004, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Haly is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Haly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 247 people with the name Haly, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,475 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 Haly 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 Haly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Haly leans strongly female. 236 people counted with this name were female (94.4%), compared with 14 male bearers (5.6%). 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 Haly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haly is White at 55.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.7%). 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 Haly most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Haly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.1% (136 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 Haly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Haly a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Haly 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 Haly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Haly 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 Haly 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 called Haly?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.