Bailey - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 2 syll. bai-ley, ba-il-ey ] The boy name Bailey is also used as a girl name, and it is more frequently a girl name. Its pronunciation is BEYLiy ^KEY. Bailey is largely used in the English and German languages, and its origin is Old English. Bailey's meaning is bailiff; berry wood. From the elements 'baili' meaning bailiff ; 'baiulus' meaning porter, messenger ; 'beg' meaning berry ; 'leah' meaning wood, clearing, meadow. The personal name is derived from an Old English family name which was originally given to someone working as a bailiff or porter; the job title is itself of Latin roots. The surname could also have originated as a byname for someone who lived in or near a bailey or fortress, or else Bailey in Lancashire, an English place name of the elements 'beg' and 'leah'. The name was a regular boy name in the 19th century, but it was later popularized as a girl name by the female character Bailey Quarters in the American comedy television sitcom 'WKRP in Cincinnati' (1978-1982). The boy name was recently popularized by the male character Bailey Salinger in the American television drama series 'Party of Five' (1994-2000).

Bailee (English), Baileigh (English), Bailie (English), Baillie (English), Baily (English), Baylee (English), Bayleigh (English), Bayley (English), Baylie (English), and Bayly (English) are variants of Bailey. Bail (English short form) is another variant of Bailey.

Bailey is a fairly popular baby name for boys. The name rose in popularity during the 1990s. Its usage peaked modestly in 1997 with 0.115% of baby boys being given the name Bailey. It ranked at #150 then. The baby name has since experienced a fall in popularity. In 2007, its usage was only 0.016% and its ranking #666, but it was nonetheless the most regularly used among all boy names in its group. Though Bailey is more popular as a girl name today, there was a period before 1937 that it was given more often to boys. From 1983 on, increasingly more girls than boys were named Bailey. In 2006, the name Bailey was given to 9 times as many girls than boys.

Baby names that sound like Bailey include Bailee (English), Bailie (English), Baillie (English), Baily (English), Baylee (English), Bayley (English), Baylie (English), Bayly (English), Baileigh (English), Bayleigh (English), Bela (Basque), Béla (Hungarian), Billie (English), Billy (English), Bail (English), Beal (English), Beale (English), Bill (English), and Blai (Catalan).

^KEY: Pronunciation for Bailey: B as in "be (B.IY)" ; EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"

Popularity Trend
for Bailey
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Bailey
in 2007