Cailee

Meaning & origin

Cailee is a modern feminine name that was first recorded in the United States in 1986. It is a respelling of Kaylee, a name that rose steeply during the late 1980s and 1990s as part of a broader fashion for names ending in the long E sound. Cailee reached its peak popularity in 1999, when it ranked 2,139th nationally. Since 2009, the name has been in decline: by 2025 it had fallen to rank 4,460, with only about 1 in every 51,847 newborn girls being named Cailee. The trajectory suggests it is a name that enjoyed a brief period of visibility and is now less common, though it remains in use. As a spelling variant, it has not been as widely adopted as the more standard Kaylee or Kailee. Cailee was not concentrated in any one state, but reflects a broader American taste for invented names built on familiar sounds.

Cailee is a respelled variant of Kaylee, which emerged in the United States during the late 20th century. It likely arose as a combination of the name Kay (often a diminutive of Katherine) and the popular -lee suffix used in many modern coinages. The name enjoyed its peak popularity in 1999 but has since declined in use.