Paley

Girls' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Paley has been given to 17 babies in the U.S. since 2004. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2007, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Paley, 2007

1 in 571,000

Paley over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Paley: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Paley means

Paley is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Paley is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 17 girls were recorded with the name Paley between 2004 and 2007. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2007; its best national rank was #15,077 in 2007.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Paley?

Paley had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2007, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2007: 1 in 571,000; 7 of 3,997,748 births
Among girls only: 1 in 275,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2007: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 395,862 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Paley sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2007 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 395,862 children born in 2007 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Paley. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Paleys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Paley was born before 2006 — so the typical Paley is around 19 today.

Median birth year: 2006; About 19 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 17; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (17).

Is Paley rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 2007 (7)
Years since peak: 18; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 40.0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #15,077; 2007

Spellings of Paley

Paley is not the most common spelling — Sally is, with 11.5% against Paley's <0.01%.

Sally11.5%205,229
Hailey10.1%181,434
Haley8.9%159,511
Riley7.9%141,960
Patsy6.7%119,448
Bailey6.2%110,806
Casey4.4%78,100
Paisley3.7%65,369

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Paley by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #15,077; 2007
Peak year: 2007; 7 that year
First recorded: 2004
Last recorded: 2007
All-time count: 17
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Paley

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Lexley Pala Winley Sailey Analey Konley Meley Esley Palace Tyley Enley Izley Keley Beasley Palynn Pal Paxley Wrynley Rennley Emley Taley Koley Wriley Ziley

Sibling names for Paley

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Jailyn Kalli Neveah Marlen Jaylyn Lupita Rhianna Marin

For a brother

Jaeden Nikhil Jamarcus Slade Brandt Nevin Ean Davian

Explore around Paley

Top names of 2007, Paley's peak year The 2000s in full Other names that peaked in 2007 Girls' names starting with P