Meaning and history
From an English surname derived from Middle English baili, meaning “bailiff,” originally referring to someone who held that office, Bailey was already an uncommon masculine name when it began to rise for American girls in 1978 after the debut of WKRP in Cincinnati, which included a character with this name. It remained more common for girls, but gained some popularity for boys in 1994 through another television character on Party of Five, while in the United Kingdom and Australia it has traditionally been more popular as a boys’ name.
20062006: 2,980 births, rank #112
2007: 3,934 births, rank #84
2008: 3,907 births, rank #82
2009: 3,643 births, rank #85
2010: 3,598 births, rank #78
20112011: 3,318 births, rank #88
2012: 3,418 births, rank #81
2013: 3,019 births, rank #105
2014: 2,951 births, rank #104
2015: 2,853 births, rank #107
20162016: 2,712 births, rank #116
2017: 2,433 births, rank #125
2018: 2,181 births, rank #133
2019: 1,819 births, rank #157
2020: 1,670 births, rank #172
20212021: 1,775 births, rank #162
2022: 1,649 births, rank #182
2023: 1,683 births, rank #172
2024: 1,652 births, rank #182
20252025: 1,446 births, rank #208
Bailey moved from #182 to #209 for girls between 2024 and 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 1998, with 5,198 births.