Hayleigh
A feminine name derived from the English region of Hayley, originally meaning "hay meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 5,417 living Americans carry the first name Hayleigh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hayleigh today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hayleigh births was 2010 (323 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hayleigh. 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 Hayleigh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.4K
~ 1 in 63,274 Americans
Peak year
2010
323 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,595
Tracked since 1986
Census
Hayleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,414 people with the first name Hayleigh, which placed it at #4,299 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
#4,299
National first-name rank
People counted
4.4K
4,414 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hayleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hayleigh is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.8%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Hayleigh 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 Hayleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.6% · 3,557
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 298
- Two or more races5.6% · 245
- Black or African American5.3% · 236
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 51
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 27
Popularity
Hayleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hayleigh 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 2,460 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
Hayleigh 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 Hayleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hayleighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Ohio recorded the most babies named Hayleigh, while Oregon, Nevada, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 108 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hayleigh
The name Hayleigh is a variant spelling of the English name Hayley, which is a modern feminine form of the male name Hayley or Hailey. The name Hayley itself is thought to have originated as an English surname derived from the Old English word "hæg" or "hæge," meaning "hay" or "hedged field."
The earliest known use of the name Hayleigh can be traced back to the late 20th century, when it emerged as a unique and creative spelling variation of the more common name Hayley. The name gained popularity in the United States and other English-speaking countries during this time.
While the name Hayleigh does not have a long historical lineage or documented usage in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it shares a similar origin and meaning with the name Hayley, which has been in use for several centuries as both a surname and a given name.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Hayley as a given name was Hayley Westenra, a New Zealand singer born in 1987. Other notable individuals named Hayleigh or Hayley throughout history include Hayley Mills (born 1946), an English actress known for her roles in classic films like "Pollyanna" and "The Parent Trap," and Hayley Atwell (born 1982), a British-American actress best known for portraying Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In literature, the name Hayley appears in the works of English poet William Wordsworth, who wrote a poem titled "Hayley's Life" in honor of his friend and fellow poet William Hayley (1745-1820). The name Hayleigh, however, does not seem to have been used by any significant historical figures or referenced in notable literary works due to its relatively recent emergence as a variant spelling.
People
Hayleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hayleigh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hayleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hayleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,417 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hayleigh 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 63,274 US residents.
Is Hayleigh a common name?
We classify Hayleigh as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,497 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hayleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Hayleigh was 2010, when 323 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hayleigh is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hayleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,414 people with the name Hayleigh, or 1.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,299 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 Hayleigh 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 Hayleigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hayleigh appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,421 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Hayleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hayleigh is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.8%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Hayleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hayleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.6% (3,557 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 Hayleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hayleigh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hayleigh 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 Hayleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hayleigh 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 Hayleigh 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 Americans are named Hayleigh?
Find out how many people share the name Hayleigh on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.