Declining since 2004, #5,099 for girls today.
Popularity of Kaileigh since 1985
Babies named Kaileigh per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 2004, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Kaileigh's real moment was 2011.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1980s | 148 |
| 1990s | 593 |
| 2000s | 1,058 |
| 2010s | 799 |
| 2020s | 176 |
Meaning & origin
Kaileigh is a modern respelling of Kaylee, a name that rose to prominence in the late 20th century. First recorded in the United States in 1985, it reached its peak rank of 5099 in 2011, with approximately 1 in 64291 girls receiving the name in 2025. The name has been in decline since 2004, reflecting broader shifts away from creative spellings of popular sounds. Despite its modern origins, Kaileigh fits within a long tradition of -leigh suffixes derived from Old English leah 'woodland clearing,' though the name itself has no historical usage before the 1980s. Its top states are not recorded, indicating a relatively even distribution across the country.
Kaileigh is a modern respelling of Kaylee, itself a 20th-century coinage blending the nickname Kay (from Katherine) with the popular -lee suffix. The name emerged in the United States during the 1980s as part of a trend toward distinctive spelling variations of traditional names. It has no historical usage before the late 20th century.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Kai, Lee, Leigh
Sibling names for Kaileigh
Names that share Kaileigh's style, for a brother or sister.
