Cailie

Meaning & origin

Cailie is a modern feminine name that first appeared on the U.S. baby-name landscape in 1990. While it has never cracked the official Top 1000, it saw its most pronounced use in the early 2000s, with its peak year being 2003. Since then, its trajectory has been stable, neither surging nor declining dramatically. The name is a phonetic variant of the much more popular Kaylee, which itself is an anglicized form of the Irish surname Caollaidhe, meaning 'slender'. Cailie reflects the broader trend of respelling traditional names with a modern twist, a pattern particularly common in the 1990s and 2000s. Despite its relative rarity, the name has been used steadily, with no single state showing a particular concentration. Parents drawn to the sound of Kaylee but seeking a distinct spelling may find Cailie an appealing choice.

Cailie is a phonetic variant of Kaylee. Kaylee itself emerged in the late 20th century as a respelling of the Irish surname Caollaidhe (anglicized as Keely or Keeley), which derives from the Gaelic word caol meaning 'slender'. The name gained wide popularity in the 1990s and early 2000s in the United States, particularly in its various spellings.