BAILEY

(male), (female) Transferred use of the surname, which has various origins. Most commonly it was an occupational name for a bailiff or administrative official; in other cases it was a local name for someone who lived near a bailey, i.e. a city fortification; in others it may be a local name from Bailey in Lancashire, which gets its name from Old English bēg ‘berry’ + lēah ‘wood, clearing’. In the United States this is now more popular as a girl's name than a boy's name, though the reverse is true in Britain.