Hayley vs Hayward
American parents have registered 51,449 Hayleys since 1880, against 5,064 Haywards. Hayley is still ahead, with 179 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Hayley Hayward
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 138 years in which either name was published, Hayward for 75 years and Hayley for 63 years. The lead changed hands once.
Side by side
| Hayley | Hayward | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 51,449 | 5,064 |
| Most in one year | 2,624 | 95 |
| Babies in 2025 | 179 | 5 |
| Estimated living today | 51,000 | 2,100 |
| Median age today | 27 | 64 |
| Peak year | 1993 | 1956 |
| Best rank | 126th girls | 753rd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 1,250th | 12,008th |
| First recorded | 1960 | 1884 |
| Girls / boys | 51,403 / 46 | 0 / 5,064 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Haywards alive today are over 64; half the Hayleys are over 27. That is 37 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Hayley Nevada (2.0×), New Hampshire (1.6×), Oregon (1.6×)
- Hayward Louisiana (10.3×), South Carolina (10.2×), West Virginia (10.1×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Hayley and Hayward.