Kaleigh
- Pronunciation
- [Ka-leigh]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Kaleigh
Kaleigh is a modern respelling within the wide Kay-/Kal- + -leigh/-ley/-lee family, a cluster of names with no single ancient etymology but with roots that reach into multiple traditions. The broader family draws on the Old Irish caol, meaning "slender," as well as the Greek-derived katharos, "pure," that underlies Katherine and its many derivatives. Popular interpretations often link names in this group to "keeper of the keys" or "pure." Kaleigh's distinctive -leigh ending gives it a visual elegance that sets it apart from simpler spellings, and its soft, flowing sound — three syllables built around an open vowel — suited the early-2000s taste for lyrical feminine names with gentle consonants.
Kaleigh entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000 and peaked the following year, 2001, at #399 — an impressively high opening ranking. It held in the top-1000 through 2014, when it exited at #896 with 303 girls receiving the name that year. The total across its roughly fifteen years in the SSA rankings amounts to more than 8,100 girls. Its run in the top-1000 coincided with peak American enthusiasm for the entire Kayleigh sound family. Variants span a remarkably broad range: Caileigh, Cailey, Cailie, Caleigh, Caley, Callee, Calli, Cayleigh, Kaelee, Kaeleigh, Kaeley, Kaeli, Kaelie, Kailee, Kailey, Kaili, Kalee, Kalei, Kaley, Kalie, Kalli, Kallie, Kally, Kayla, Kaylea, Kaylei, Kayleigh, Kayley, Kayli, and Kaylie — testimony to just how deeply this sound cluster embedded itself in American naming culture.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Kaleigh
US Popularity History (2000–2014)
Annual US births named Kaleigh by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2001 with 729 girls named Kaleigh (girl rank #399 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2014, ranked #896 for girls (303 US births). That's 497 places below its 2001 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Kaleigh Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Kaleigh the strongest states are Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | #491 | 47 |
| 2 | South Carolina | #544 | 41 |
| 3 | Louisiana | #575 | 55 |
| 4 | Alabama | #694 | 64 |
| 5 | Georgia | #834 | 73 |
| 6 | North Carolina | #914 | 54 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina | #914 | 54 |
| 2 | Georgia | #834 | 73 |
| 3 | Alabama | #694 | 64 |
| 4 | Louisiana | #575 | 55 |
| 5 | South Carolina | #544 | 41 |
| 6 | Mississippi | #491 | 47 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Kaleigh in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caileigh | Female | English | |
| Cailey | "Lark, Musical One." | Female | Greek |
| Cailie | Female | English | |
| Caleigh | Pure | Female | English |
| Caley | Slender | Male | Gaelic |
| Callee | Variant Of Cayley Meaning From The Forest | Female | Irish |
| Calli | Lark | Female | English |
| Cayleigh | Pure Meadow: Party: Slender: | Female | English |
| Kaelee | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kaeleigh | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kaeley | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kaeli | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kaelie | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kailee | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kailey | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kaili | Name Of A Deity | Male | Hawaiian |
| Kalee | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kalei | The Flower Wreath; The Beloved | Female | Hawaiian |
| Kaley | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kalie | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kalli | Modern Variant Of Callie. | Female | English |
| Kallie | Modern Variant Of Callie. | Female | English |
| Kally | Modern Variant Of Callie. | Female | English |
| Kayla | Variant Of Kay. Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. Also Kayla Is A Character On Daytime TV Days Of Our Lives. | Female | English |
| Kaylea | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kaylei | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kayleigh | Warrior | Female | Scottish |
| Kayley | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kayli | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
| Kaylie | Variant Of Kay And Kayla Keeper Of The Keys: Pure. | Female | English |
Looking for names like Kaleigh?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Kaleigh to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Kaleigh against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).