Kaleigha
A feminine name of modern invention derived from the Irish surname Kealy.
Name Census estimates that about 973 living Americans carry the first name Kaleigha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaleigha today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaleigha births was 2010 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaleigha. 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.
People living today
973
~ 1 in 352,266 Americans
Peak year
2010
67 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,698
Tracked since 1996
Census
Kaleigha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 623 people with the first name Kaleigha, which placed it at #17,614 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
#17,614
National first-name rank
People counted
623
623 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
36.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaleigha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaleigha is Black at 36.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.8%) and Two or More Races (24.4%). 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 Kaleigha 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 Kaleigha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American36.8% · 229
- White27.8% · 173
- Two or more races24.4% · 152
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.9% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 7
Popularity
Kaleigha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaleigha from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 532 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kaleigha remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kaleigha 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 Kaleigha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaleighas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Florida, Ohio, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Kaleigha, while Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaleigha
The name Kaleigha is a modern spelling variation of the traditional name Kaleigh, which itself is derived from the Scottish Gaelic name Cailliche. This Celtic name has its roots in the Old Irish word "caillech," meaning "veiled one" or "nun." The veil was a symbol of piety and wisdom in ancient Celtic culture.
The earliest known use of the name Cailliche dates back to the 5th century AD, when it was recorded in ancient Irish folklore and mythological texts. During this period, the name was primarily associated with female figures of wisdom, such as druidesses, herbalists, and spiritual leaders within Celtic communities.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with a variation of this name was Cailliche Bhearra, a legendary Irish druidess and herbalist from the 5th century AD. She was revered for her extensive knowledge of medicinal plants and her healing abilities.
In the 9th century AD, a notable figure named Cailliche Dheirg, also known as the "Red Nun," was mentioned in Irish chronicles as a wise woman and advisor to kings. Her influence extended throughout the region of Connacht in western Ireland.
During the Middle Ages, the name Cailliche evolved into various spellings, such as Kaleigh, Kayleigh, and Kaleigh, as it spread throughout Scotland and parts of England. One notable bearer of this name was Kaleigh of Strathearn, a 13th-century Scottish noblewoman and landowner in the region of Strathearn.
In the 16th century, a variant spelling, Caleigh, was recorded in England. Caleigh Mawditt, born in 1568 in Wiltshire, was a renowned herbalist and author of one of the earliest English-language works on herbal medicine.
The modern spelling of Kaleigha emerged in recent centuries, possibly as a creative spelling variation inspired by the traditional forms of the name. While the name has become more popular in recent times, its ancient Celtic roots and associations with wisdom, healing, and spirituality continue to resonate.
People
Kaleigha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaleigha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kaleigha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaleigha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 973 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaleigha 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 352,266 US residents.
Is Kaleigha a common name?
We classify Kaleigha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 982 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaleigha most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaleigha was 2010, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaleigha is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaleigha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 623 people with the name Kaleigha, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,614 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 Kaleigha 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 Kaleigha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaleigha appears almost entirely female. Of the 623 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Kaleigha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaleigha is Black at 36.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.8%) and Two or More Races (24.4%). 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 Kaleigha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kaleigha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.8% (229 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 Kaleigha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaleigha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kaleigha 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 Kaleigha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaleigha 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 Kaleigha 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 common is the name Kaleigha?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.