Kayleigh
http://www.the-company.com/kayleigh.htmFound this interesting story that supposedly the name Kayleigh was made up by a dodgy old 80's prog rock band called Marillion as the title of their one fairly famous single around 1985. The song was lovesong about the lead singers girlfriend at the time and the name Kayleigh is derived from hers. Her first name was Kay her middle name was Lee, a bit of a fiddle with the spelling of the middle name, bung them together and bingo - a hit single and an original name which has since entered the culture and popularity lists. Explains why there seems to be loads of 20 year old Kayleighs punting around these days but i dont recall meeting a 30 year old one.Whether its true or not i dont know but heres the interesting part (at least i think it is) the link at the top is for a quest to find the oldest Kayleigh out there. The best so far is 20 years old which would seem to justify the claim - Prove them wrong if you can.
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My cousin is called Kayleigh, and she was born mid 1970's, so this is definately not the origin of the name.by the way, I have never come across any early 20's or teenage Kayley/Kayleigh's, but maybe I lead a sheltered life!
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Dont tell me, tell them.
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This song may explain why Kayleigh became the most common spelling of this name in the UK, but I don't think one can assume that no one had thought of that spelling before the song was created. A few seconds of Googling discovered the following reference to a Kayleigh who was in the Class of 1981 at a school in Oxfordshire, England:http://static.namesdatabase.com/schools/UKOX/Banbury/TheWarrinerSchool.htmlAnd here is a page for Kayleigh Milden, a researcher in oral history who was probably born before 1985 as she graduated from college in 2000:http://www.institutes.ex.ac.uk/ics/milden.htm

This message was edited 10/11/2005, 3:39 PM

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I think however you can assume that someone somewhere had to think of that spelling or the name wouldnt exist at all, why not in 1985. not everything has its origins lost in the mists of time. Anyway as i said i have no idea whether its true or not i just thought the story was interesting and had a certain verisimilitude worth discussing.I went back and had a little look on the originating website and they have found a Kayleigh who is 21, but she changed her name so it probably doesnt count. Could name changing be an explaination of the 2 references you found? who can say (not me anyway)
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Click: Kayley --> Kayleigh

This message was edited 10/9/2005, 2:32 PM

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