Kaleigh
Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Cailín meaning "girl" or "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 15,830 living Americans carry the first name Kaleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaleigh today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaleigh births was 2001 (729 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaleigh. 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
16K
~ 1 in 21,652 Americans
Peak year
2001
729 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2004 SSA rank
#2,779
Tracked since 1980
Gender
Gender distribution for Kaleigh
Out of the 16,190 babies given the name Kaleigh since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Kaleigh as a male name
- Ranked #10,659 in 2004
- 6 male births in 2004
- Peak: 2004 (6 births)
Kaleigh as a female name
- Ranked #2,779 in 2024
- 61 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (729 births)
Popularity
Kaleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaleigh 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 6,292 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
Kaleigh 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 Kaleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaleighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. Texas, Florida, Georgia recorded the most babies named Kaleigh, while Nevada, Delaware, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 345 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaleigh
The name Kaleigh is a modern English variant of the Scottish name Cailín, which means "young woman" or "girl" in Gaelic. The name originated in the early medieval period, around the 5th or 6th century, when the Gaelic language was spoken in parts of what is now Scotland and Ireland.
While the name Cailín has ancient roots, the spelling variation Kaleigh is a more recent invention, likely emerging in the late 20th century as a creative respelling of the traditional name. It reflects the trend of giving traditional names a unique twist through alternative spellings.
In terms of historical references, the name Cailín does not appear to have been recorded in any significant ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, it was a common name among the Gaelic-speaking population of Scotland and Ireland during the Middle Ages and beyond.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kaleigh was Kaleigh Rennebohm, an American actress born in 1981. Other notable people with this first name include Kaleigh Krish, an American singer-songwriter born in 1992, and Kaleigh Sommers, an American model and actress born in 1985.
While the spelling Kaleigh is modern, the name Cailín has a long history in Scottish and Irish culture. Two notable historical figures with this name were Cailín Og Ó Doibhilin (c. 1537-1616), an Irish historian and poet, and Cailín Gruamdha Ó Duibhir (c. 1575-1635), an Irish chieftain and military leader.
Another individual with the name Cailín who left a mark in history was Cailín Ban, a 17th-century Irish noblewoman and landowner known for her involvement in the Irish Rebellion of 1641. She played a role in the siege of Ballingarry Castle during the conflict.
People
Kaleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaleigh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kaleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,830 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaleigh 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 21,652 US residents.
Is Kaleigh a common name?
We classify Kaleigh as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,190 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaleigh was 2001, when 729 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaleigh is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kaleigh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kaleigh 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.