Kileigh
A feminine variation of the Gaelic name Cailin meaning "Girl".
Name Census estimates that about 650 living Americans carry the first name Kileigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kileigh today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kileigh births was 2009 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kileigh. 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
650
~ 1 in 527,314 Americans
Peak year
2009
52 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2018 SSA rank
#8,378
Tracked since 1979
Census
Kileigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 593 people with the first name Kileigh, which placed it at #18,232 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
#18,232
National first-name rank
People counted
593
593 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kileigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kileigh is White at 81.1%. The next largest groups are Black (6.7%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Kileigh 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 Kileigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.1% · 481
- Black or African American6.7% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 32
- Two or more races5.4% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 3
Popularity
Kileigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kileigh from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 356 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kileigh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kileigh 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 Kileigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kileighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Kileigh, while Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kileigh
Kileigh is a relatively modern name with no known ancient origins or historical references. It appears to be an anglicized form of the Irish name Cailíoch, which means "bright-headed" or "girl with bright hair." The earliest recorded use of the spelling Kileigh dates back to the late 20th century in English-speaking countries.
While the name Cailíoch has roots in Irish Gaelic culture, the spelling variation Kileigh gained popularity as a feminine given name in recent decades, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom. It may have been influenced by the increasing trend of creating unique and creative spellings of traditional names.
Due to its recent emergence, there are no notable historical figures or famous individuals from earlier eras who bore the name Kileigh. However, here are five individuals with this first name from modern times:
1. Kileigh Fauré-Walker (born 1991) is a South African actress known for her roles in television series like "The Girl from St. Agnes" and "Legacy."
2. Kileigh Nealon (born 1994) is an American soccer player who played as a forward for the University of California, Berkeley.
3. Kileigh Patch (born 1995) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
4. Kileigh Darragh is an American politician who serves as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives.
5. Kileigh Murphy is a Canadian ice hockey player who plays as a defenseman for the Colgate University women's ice hockey team.
While the name Kileigh may lack a deep historical lineage, its unique spelling and Irish-influenced roots have contributed to its growing popularity in recent years, particularly among English-speaking families seeking uncommon and distinctive names for their children.
People
Kileigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kileigh 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
Kileigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kileigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 650 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kileigh 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 527,314 US residents.
Is Kileigh a common name?
We classify Kileigh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 661 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kileigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Kileigh was 2009, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kileigh is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kileigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 593 people with the name Kileigh, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,232 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 Kileigh 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 Kileigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kileigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 588 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Kileigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kileigh is White at 81.1%. The next largest groups are Black (6.7%) and Hispanic (5.4%). 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 Kileigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kileigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.1% (481 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 Kileigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kileigh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kileigh 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 Kileigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kileigh 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 Kileigh 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 Kileigh?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Kileigh at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.