Caleigh
A feminine name of Irish origin meaning "bright-headed" or "fair beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 5,630 living Americans carry the first name Caleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caleigh today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caleigh births was 1999 (322 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caleigh. 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 Caleigh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 60,880 Americans
Peak year
1999
322 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,690
Tracked since 1984
Census
Caleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,887 people with the first name Caleigh, which placed it at #3,983 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
#3,983
National first-name rank
People counted
4.9K
4,887 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caleigh is White at 78.0%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Caleigh 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 Caleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.0% · 3,810
- Black or African American8.8% · 430
- Two or more races5.8% · 283
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 253
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 77
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 34
Popularity
Caleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caleigh from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,408 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
Caleigh 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 Caleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caleighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, New York, California recorded the most babies named Caleigh, while Nevada, Nebraska, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 110 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caleigh
The name Caleigh is a modern invented name that does not have a clear historical origin or etymology. It is likely a creative spelling variation of the more traditional names Cailey or Kayley, which are thought to be derived from the Irish Gaelic name Cailín, meaning "young woman" or "girl."
The earliest recorded use of the name Caleigh dates back to the late 20th century, with the first known instance appearing in the United States. It is considered a relatively new name, with no known historical references or appearances in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records.
Due to its recent emergence, there are no notable historical figures or famous individuals named Caleigh from past centuries. However, here are five individuals who have been given the name in modern times:
1. Caleigh Hansen, an American volleyball player born in 1995.
2. Caleigh Herbst, a Canadian singer and songwriter born in 1998.
3. Caleigh Ryan, an American soccer player born in 1995.
4. Caleigh Wells, an American beauty influencer and social media personality born in 1994.
5. Caleigh LeMaster, an American softball player born in 2001.
While the name Caleigh may lack a deep historical background, it has gained popularity in recent decades as a unique and creative variation of more traditional names. Its rise in usage reflects the modern trend of inventing new names or experimenting with unconventional spellings.
People
Caleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caleigh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Caleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,630 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caleigh 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 60,880 US residents.
Is Caleigh a common name?
We classify Caleigh as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,724 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Caleigh was 1999, when 322 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caleigh is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,887 people with the name Caleigh, or 1.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,983 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 Caleigh 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 Caleigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caleigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,890 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Caleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caleigh is White at 78.0%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Caleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.0% (3,810 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 Caleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caleigh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caleigh 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 Caleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caleigh 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 Caleigh 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 Caleigh as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Caleigh, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.