Alison
Alison was given to 644 girls in 2025, #476 among girls’ names; 117,481 Americans have been recorded with it since 1905 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 111,000 Americans named Alison and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 27 and 51.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alison by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Alison mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Alison is “a female given name from the Germanic languages.” Its etymology gives the sense “of noble kind” (Adalhaid).
From Middle English Alisoun, from Old French Alison, brought to England by the Normans (from Anglo-Norman Alison, from Norman Alison), diminutive of Aliz, equivalent to English Alice, from Old High German Adalhaid (“of noble kind”).
/ˈælɪsən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Alison?
#476 among girls’ names, 2025
Alison fell from #339 in 2015 to #476 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.54 to 0.40 per 1,000.
3,000 babies in 1986, the peak
Alison peaked in 1986, when 3,000 babies were given it (2,975 girls, #96 among girls’ names). The 649 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 22% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 644 | #476 | 0.40 |
| 2024 | 674 | #465 | 0.42 |
| 2023 | 654 | #471 | 0.41 |
| 2022 | 692 | #458 | 0.42 |
| 2021 | 660 | #473 | 0.40 |
| 2020 | 699 | #440 | 0.43 |
| 2019 | 758 | #413 | 0.45 |
| 2018 | 770 | #400 | 0.45 |
| 2017 | 816 | #383 | 0.47 |
| 2016 | 974 | #343 | 0.55 |
Every recorded year (117)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 967 | #339 | 0.54 |
| 2014 | 1,118 | #292 | 0.63 |
| 2013 | 1,072 | #298 | 0.61 |
| 2012 | 1,184 | #275 | 0.67 |
| 2011 | 1,272 | #253 | 0.72 |
| 2010 | 1,219 | #269 | 0.69 |
| 2009 | 1,448 | #228 | 0.79 |
| 2008 | 1,247 | #275 | 0.66 |
| 2007 | 1,170 | #290 | 0.61 |
| 2006 | 1,217 | #272 | 0.64 |
| 2005 | 1,256 | #260 | 0.68 |
| 2004 | 1,433 | #229 | 0.78 |
| 2003 | 1,413 | #233 | 0.77 |
| 2002 | 1,361 | #232 | 0.76 |
| 2001 | 1,360 | #233 | 0.76 |
| 2000 | 1,381 | #231 | 0.76 |
| 1999 | 1,527 | #202 | 0.86 |
| 1998 | 1,642 | #188 | 0.93 |
| 1997 | 1,763 | #173 | 1.0 |
| 1996 | 1,901 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1995 | 1,952 | #162 | 1.1 |
| 1994 | 2,121 | #153 | 1.2 |
| 1993 | 2,241 | #141 | 1.2 |
| 1992 | 2,066 | #147 | 1.1 |
| 1991 | 2,153 | #142 | 1.1 |
| 1990 | 2,363 | #132 | 1.2 |
| 1989 | 2,488 | #119 | 1.3 |
| 1988 | 2,541 | #113 | 1.4 |
| 1987 | 2,771 | #100 | 1.6 |
| 1986 | 2,975 | #96 | 1.7 |
| 1985 | 2,829 | #97 | 1.6 |
| 1984 | 2,512 | #110 | 1.5 |
| 1983 | 2,491 | #116 | 1.5 |
| 1982 | 2,727 | #111 | 1.6 |
| 1981 | 2,704 | #113 | 1.6 |
| 1980 | 2,980 | #101 | 1.8 |
| 1979 | 2,938 | #102 | 1.8 |
| 1978 | 2,433 | #123 | 1.6 |
| 1977 | 2,372 | #122 | 1.5 |
| 1976 | 2,272 | #118 | 1.6 |
| 1975 | 2,267 | #127 | 1.6 |
| 1974 | 2,079 | #135 | 1.4 |
| 1973 | 1,928 | #146 | 1.3 |
| 1972 | 1,808 | #162 | 1.2 |
| 1971 | 2,210 | #143 | 1.3 |
| 1970 | 1,763 | #187 | 1.0 |
| 1969 | 1,077 | #269 | 0.64 |
| 1968 | 904 | #291 | 0.55 |
| 1967 | 895 | #284 | 0.54 |
| 1966 | 959 | #270 | 0.57 |
| 1965 | 1,461 | #221 | 0.83 |
| 1964 | 1,451 | #226 | 0.77 |
| 1963 | 1,389 | #234 | 0.72 |
| 1962 | 1,421 | #225 | 0.72 |
| 1961 | 1,409 | #231 | 0.70 |
| 1960 | 1,267 | #246 | 0.63 |
| 1959 | 1,197 | #254 | 0.59 |
| 1958 | 993 | #281 | 0.49 |
| 1957 | 567 | #380 | 0.28 |
| 1956 | 592 | #359 | 0.29 |
| 1955 | 545 | #377 | 0.28 |
| 1954 | 619 | #343 | 0.32 |
| 1953 | 492 | #382 | 0.26 |
| 1952 | 440 | #392 | 0.24 |
| 1951 | 418 | #403 | 0.23 |
| 1950 | 353 | #427 | 0.21 |
| 1949 | 316 | #448 | 0.18 |
| 1948 | 268 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1947 | 233 | #557 | 0.13 |
| 1946 | 214 | #540 | 0.14 |
| 1945 | 120 | #678 | 0.09 |
| 1944 | 77 | #867 | 0.06 |
| 1943 | 67 | #965 | 0.05 |
| 1942 | 78 | #873 | 0.06 |
| 1941 | 35 | #1,295 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 42 | #1,114 | 0.04 |
| 1939 | 44 | #1,080 | 0.04 |
| 1938 | 43 | #1,091 | 0.04 |
| 1937 | 38 | #1,160 | 0.04 |
| 1936 | 51 | #961 | 0.05 |
| 1935 | 35 | #1,199 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 50 | #974 | 0.05 |
| 1933 | 26 | #1,442 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 35 | #1,214 | 0.03 |
| 1931 | 21 | #1,687 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 24 | #1,608 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 14 | #2,303 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 28 | #1,502 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,670 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 22 | #1,830 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 14 | #2,490 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 23 | #1,811 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 22 | #1,842 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 21 | #1,897 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 19 | #2,050 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 10 | #3,099 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 17 | #2,067 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 18 | #2,030 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 20 | #1,774 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 15 | #2,134 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 16 | #1,963 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 22 | #1,345 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 12 | #1,768 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 9 | #1,984 | 0.02 |
| 1910 | 5 | #2,412 | 0.01 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,071 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,543 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Alison a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alison has been given almost only to girls: 595 boys in 117 years of records.
Girls and boys named Alison: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alison, and how old are they?
111,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 117,481 Americans ever recorded as Alison. The median Alison alive today is 40 years old; half are between 27 and 51.
The 2020 Census counted 111,220 people named Alison (110,774 women and girls, 446 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 108,534 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 317 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 11,600 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 28,500 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 37,900 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 21,700 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 10,500 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Alison born?
The states with the most babies named Alison are California, Texas and New York, with 38% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 107 | #304 | 1.0× |
| Texas | 87 | #387 | 0.7× |
| New York | 37 | #462 | 1.4× |
| Florida | 34 | #532 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 24 | #453 | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 23 | #489 | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 20 | #391 | 0.6× |
| Arizona | 19 | #359 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 18 | #433 | 0.9× |
| Washington | 17 | #416 | 1.0× |
Where Alison is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Alison is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1910 it was given 1.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Alison with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 536,487 babies since 1880, Alison is the second most given (22% of them). In 2025 it was given to 649 of their 4,273 babies (15%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Alison
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Alison and names like it
- Compare Alison and AllisonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sAlison peaked in 1986.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alison since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Alison: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1986The year the most babies were named Alison.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Alison alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with AMost given first.