Raleigh

Where Raleigh comes from

From Old English rā, rāha (“roe deer”) + lēah (“woodland, clearing”). Equivalent to roe + -ley (“lea”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Raleigh
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1825
    Raleigh E. Colston born
    American general
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #482 among boys — 14 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1891
    Peak, #349
    24 babies named Raleigh — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1938
    Raleigh DeGeer Amyx born
    Collector of historical memorabilia
  5. 2007
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name, transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Raleigh E. Colston · American general, 1825–1896
  • Raleigh DeGeer Amyx · Collector of historical memorabilia, 1938–2019
  • Raleigh Aitchison · American baseball player, 1887–1958
  • Raleigh McKenzie · American football player, born 1963

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.