Cayley
Cayley was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,165 among girls’ names; 1,213 Americans have been recorded with it since 1984 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,200 Americans named Cayley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 25 years old and half are between 18 and 30.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cayley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Cayley?
#12,165 among girls’ names, 2025
Cayley fell from #5,870 in 2015 to #12,165 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 12.3 to 4.4 per million.
75 babies in 1998, the peak
Cayley peaked in 1998, when 75 girls were given it, #1,991 among girls’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 9% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,165 | 4.4 |
| 2024 | 5 | #15,742 | 3.1 |
| 2023 | 7 | #12,398 | 4.4 |
| 2022 | 8 | #11,408 | 4.9 |
| 2021 | 8 | #11,324 | 4.9 |
| 2020 | 10 | #9,700 | 6.2 |
| 2019 | 11 | #9,243 | 6.6 |
| 2018 | 15 | #7,468 | 8.8 |
| 2017 | 14 | #7,930 | 8.1 |
| 2016 | 13 | #8,488 | 7.3 |
Every recorded year (42)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 22 | #5,870 | 12.3 |
| 2014 | 16 | #7,380 | 9.0 |
| 2013 | 23 | #5,683 | 13.1 |
| 2012 | 25 | #5,428 | 14.2 |
| 2011 | 19 | #6,613 | 10.8 |
| 2010 | 20 | #6,428 | 11.3 |
| 2009 | 39 | #3,954 | 21.2 |
| 2008 | 47 | #3,486 | 24.9 |
| 2007 | 49 | #3,389 | 25.5 |
| 2006 | 53 | #3,141 | 27.9 |
| 2005 | 51 | #3,086 | 27.6 |
| 2004 | 45 | #3,343 | 24.5 |
| 2003 | 53 | #2,894 | 29.0 |
| 2002 | 37 | #3,605 | 20.6 |
| 2001 | 53 | #2,768 | 29.4 |
| 2000 | 55 | #2,675 | 30.3 |
| 1999 | 66 | #2,256 | 37.2 |
| 1998 | 75 | #1,991 | 42.4 |
| 1997 | 60 | #2,261 | 34.5 |
| 1996 | 48 | #2,593 | 27.4 |
| 1995 | 66 | #2,050 | 37.5 |
| 1994 | 44 | #2,755 | 24.6 |
| 1993 | 41 | #2,883 | 22.7 |
| 1992 | 31 | #3,508 | 16.8 |
| 1991 | 16 | #5,704 | 8.5 |
| 1990 | 14 | #6,172 | 7.4 |
| 1989 | 8 | #8,879 | 4.3 |
| 1988 | 10 | #7,199 | 5.6 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,108 | 4.6 |
| 1986 | 10 | #6,671 | 5.8 |
| 1985 | 5 | #10,911 | 2.9 |
| 1984 | 6 | #9,299 | 3.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Cayley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cayley has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 42 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Cayley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cayley, and how old are they?
1,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,213 Americans ever recorded as Cayley. The median Cayley alive today is 25 years old; half are between 18 and 30.
The 2020 Census counted 1,130 people named Cayley (1,126 women and girls, 4 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,158 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 300 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 738 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 158 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
How common is the spelling Cayley?
Cayley is a less common spelling of Kaylee: SSA has recorded 1,213 Cayley and 140,601 Kaylee since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 216,637 babies since 1880, Cayley is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 1,575 babies (<1%), again the eighth most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Cayley
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Cayley and names like it
- Compare Cayley and KayleeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sCayley peaked in 1998.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cayley since 1910.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Cayley.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Cayley alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with CMost given first.