Bailey
A female name of English origin denoting someone who was an overseer or bailiff.
Name Census estimates that about 127,090 living Americans carry the first name Bailey. It sits at #182 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Bailey today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bailey births was 1998 (7,438 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bailey. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bailey with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Bailey started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
127K
~ 1 in 2,697 Americans
Peak year
1998
7,438 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#182
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bailey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 111,403 people with the first name Bailey, which placed it at #506 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
#506
National first-name rank
People counted
111K
111,403 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
36.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bailey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bailey is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Bailey 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 Bailey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.2% · 91,522
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 6,678
- Two or more races4.9% · 5,450
- Black or African American4.9% · 5,420
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 1,363
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 970
Gender
Gender distribution for Bailey
Bailey leans heavily female at 83.5% of total registrations, but 21,603 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bailey as a male name
- Ranked #1,266 in 2024
- 155 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (2,296 births)
Bailey as a female name
- Ranked #182 in 2024
- 1,644 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (5,199 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bailey leans strongly female. 93,859 people counted with this name were female (84.3%), compared with 17,544 male bearers (15.7%).
Popularity
Bailey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bailey from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 43,771 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bailey 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 Bailey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Baileys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Bailey, while District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,476 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bailey
The name Bailey originated as an English surname derived from the Old French word "baillie," which means "steward" or "official in charge of superintendence." It emerged as a given name in the 19th century, possibly inspired by its usage as a surname.
The earliest recorded use of Bailey as a given name dates back to the late 18th century. One of the first recorded individuals with the name was Bailey Prichard, an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club in the early 19th century.
Another notable bearer of the name was Bailey Aldrich, an American poet and novelist born in 1838. He was a prominent figure in the literary circles of New England and served as the editor of the prestigious Atlantic Monthly magazine.
In the world of politics, Bailey Millard was a U.S. Senator from Nebraska who served from 1901 to 1907. He played a significant role in the early 20th century as a supporter of President Theodore Roosevelt's progressive policies.
Moving to the realm of sports, Bailey Howell was an American professional basketball player who played in the NBA during the 1960s. He was a six-time All-Star and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1976.
Perhaps one of the most famous Baileys in recent history is Bailey White, an American author, and essayist born in 1950. Her works, including the memoir "Mama Makes Up Her Mind," have received critical acclaim and have been widely popular among readers.
While the name Bailey has its roots in English surname origins, it has gained popularity as a given name across various cultures and regions worldwide. Its association with stewardship and officiality has evolved into a versatile and fashionable name choice.
People
Bailey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bailey as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bailey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bailey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 127,090 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bailey 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 2,697 US residents.
Is Bailey a common name?
We classify Bailey as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 130,947 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bailey most popular?
The single biggest year for Bailey was 1998, when 7,438 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bailey is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bailey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 111,403 people with the name Bailey, or 36.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #506 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 Bailey 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 Bailey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bailey leans strongly female. 93,859 people counted with this name were female (84.3%), compared with 17,544 male bearers (15.7%). 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 Bailey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bailey is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Bailey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bailey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.2% (91,522 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 Bailey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bailey a female name?
Yes, 83.5% of people registered as Bailey 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 Bailey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bailey 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 Bailey 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 have the name Bailey?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.