Declining since 2012, #10,917 for girls today.
Popularity of Raileigh since 2002
Babies named Raileigh per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 2013, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Raileigh's real moment was 2019.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 2000s | 56 |
| 2010s | 146 |
| 2020s | 51 |
Meaning & origin
Raileigh is a modern respelling of the name Riley, first recorded in the United States in 2002. It peaked in popularity in 2019, but has been falling in use since 2012. As of 2025, it ranks 10,917, with only about 1 in 200,908 babies given the name, making it a rare and distinctive choice. The name is typically used for girls and emerged from the trend of creating unique spellings for familiar-sounding names.
Raileigh is a modern invented spelling, likely influenced by the popularity of names like Riley and the fashionable -leigh suffix. The original name Riley derives from Old English 'ryge leah', meaning 'rye clearing'. This respelling emerged in the early 2000s, reflecting a trend of creative phonetic variations.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Rai, Leigh
Sibling names for Raileigh
Names that share Raileigh's style, for a brother or sister.
