Girl or boy · Old French, through English
Bailey
Say it: BAY-lee
Meaning
From an English surname for a bailiff, from Old French bailli, or for someone living by a city wall (a bailey).
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Used for both sexes; mostly for American girls since the 1990s.
Its wave through time
Most used in the 1990s
In the United States
- 123,573 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1998, about 1 in 340 girls
- 1,745 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Baylee, Bailee, Bayley
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.