Bailey
Pronounced B EY1 L IY0 (ARPABET)
- 2 syllables
- Peaked 1998
- 109 years in use
- 6 spellings
How popular is Bailey?
Bailey is a name given to both boys and girls, and first appears in 1916. It has been given to 185,498 children — the 265th most common girls' name on record.
It has been slipping, down 39% on the previous decade. Its best single year was 1998, when 7,451 children were given it.
Six other spellings are counted in that total — Baylee, Bayley, Baily and three more — because they are pronounced identically.
Roughly 13% of children named Bailey are boys, so the split is a real one rather than a rounding error.
Spelling variants
These spellings sound identical to Bailey and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.
- Baylee
- Bayley
- Baily
- Bailee
- Baley
- Bayly
Characteristics
- 2 syllables
Phonetic detail
- Pronunciations:
- B EY1 L IY0 · B EY1 L IY1
- Stress pattern:
- 10 · 11
- Syllables:
- 2
Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.
Names like Bailey
Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.
Sibling names for Bailey
Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.
Frequently asked questions
- How popular is the name Bailey?
- Bailey ranks 265th among girls' names in US records, with 185,498 births since 1916. Over the past decade it accounts for 32,118.
- Is Bailey a unisex name?
- Yes. About 13% of children given the name are boys, which is a genuine split rather than a rounding error.
- When was Bailey most popular?
- 1998, when 7,451 children were given the name. It has been in use for 109 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
- How else is Bailey spelled?
- Baylee, Bayley, Baily, Bailee, Baley, Bayly. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.