Hayley

Derived from an English place name and surname meaning hay meadow, from Old English elements for dried grass and clearing. The spelling entered American birth records in 1960, the same year child actress Hayley Mills starred in Disney's film adaptation of Pollyanna. It migrated from British cinema to American maternity wards over the following three decades.

The name reads as definitively late-twentieth-century, heavily associated with the era of gel pens, youth soccer tournaments, and CD binders. With an average bearer in her late twenties, it belongs to someone who learned to type on a desktop computer in a school computer lab. The spelling with a y is slightly less common than Hailey, which means she spent her childhood correcting substitute teachers.