Alston
Alston was given to 16 boys in 2025, #5,615 among boys’ names; 2,600 Americans have been recorded with it since 1894 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,090 Americans named Alston and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (80% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 12 and 32.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alston by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Alston?
#5,615 among boys’ names, 2025
Alston fell from #2,276 in 2015 to #5,615 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 30.3 to 9.4 per million.
70 babies in 2017, the peak
Alston peaked in 2017, when 70 boys were given it, #2,015 among boys’ names. The 16 births of 2025 are 23% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16 | #5,615 | 9.4 |
| 2024 | 29 | #3,796 | 16.8 |
| 2023 | 20 | #4,888 | 11.7 |
| 2022 | 38 | #3,152 | 21.8 |
| 2021 | 33 | #3,425 | 18.9 |
| 2020 | 39 | #2,981 | 22.6 |
| 2019 | 57 | #2,366 | 31.8 |
| 2018 | 52 | #2,472 | 28.6 |
| 2017 | 70 | #2,015 | 37.8 |
| 2016 | 60 | #2,230 | 31.6 |
Every recorded year (112)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 58 | #2,276 | 30.3 |
| 2014 | 66 | #2,097 | 34.4 |
| 2013 | 67 | #2,022 | 35.4 |
| 2012 | 68 | #2,036 | 35.8 |
| 2011 | 52 | #2,404 | 27.4 |
| 2010 | 44 | #2,732 | 22.9 |
| 2009 | 50 | #2,529 | 25.2 |
| 2008 | 57 | #2,292 | 27.9 |
| 2007 | 51 | #2,473 | 24.6 |
| 2006 | 50 | #2,450 | 24.3 |
| 2005 | 46 | #2,463 | 23.0 |
| 2004 | 44 | #2,488 | 22.2 |
| 2003 | 43 | #2,424 | 21.8 |
| 2002 | 46 | #2,247 | 23.7 |
| 2001 | 35 | #2,676 | 18.0 |
| 2000 | 47 | #2,134 | 23.9 |
| 1999 | 47 | #2,022 | 24.5 |
| 1998 | 59 | #1,718 | 30.9 |
| 1997 | 60 | #1,654 | 31.8 |
| 1996 | 53 | #1,737 | 28.0 |
| 1995 | 55 | #1,644 | 28.9 |
| 1994 | 55 | #1,638 | 28.5 |
| 1993 | 38 | #2,086 | 19.4 |
| 1992 | 31 | #2,358 | 15.5 |
| 1991 | 35 | #2,090 | 17.3 |
| 1990 | 38 | #1,964 | 18.5 |
| 1989 | 24 | #2,613 | 12.0 |
| 1988 | 22 | #2,596 | 11.5 |
| 1987 | 15 | #3,200 | 8.0 |
| 1986 | 12 | #3,654 | 6.5 |
| 1985 | 18 | #2,710 | 9.7 |
| 1984 | 19 | #2,532 | 10.5 |
| 1983 | 8 | #4,514 | 4.5 |
| 1982 | 13 | #3,290 | 7.2 |
| 1981 | 10 | #3,863 | 5.6 |
| 1980 | 11 | #3,623 | 6.2 |
| 1979 | 12 | #3,359 | 7.0 |
| 1978 | 5 | #5,805 | 3.0 |
| 1977 | 6 | #5,141 | 3.7 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,097 | 7.6 |
| 1975 | 6 | #4,814 | 3.8 |
| 1974 | 8 | #3,846 | 5.1 |
| 1973 | 5 | #5,121 | 3.2 |
| 1972 | 7 | #3,970 | 4.3 |
| 1971 | 5 | #4,933 | 2.8 |
| 1970 | 6 | #4,240 | 3.2 |
| 1969 | 11 | #2,682 | 6.2 |
| 1967 | 7 | #3,238 | 4.0 |
| 1966 | 9 | #2,787 | 5.0 |
| 1964 | 9 | #2,859 | 4.5 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,046 | 3.9 |
| 1962 | 14 | #2,186 | 6.8 |
| 1961 | 11 | #2,540 | 5.2 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,083 | 3.8 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,040 | 3.7 |
| 1958 | 9 | #2,821 | 4.2 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,826 | 4.2 |
| 1956 | 12 | #2,362 | 5.7 |
| 1955 | 7 | #3,205 | 3.4 |
| 1954 | 12 | #2,317 | 5.9 |
| 1953 | 7 | #3,148 | 3.5 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,383 | 3.1 |
| 1951 | 12 | #2,247 | 6.4 |
| 1950 | 11 | #2,323 | 6.1 |
| 1949 | 9 | #2,608 | 5.1 |
| 1948 | 15 | #1,944 | 8.5 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,503 | 5.5 |
| 1946 | 11 | #2,271 | 6.8 |
| 1944 | 15 | #1,811 | 11.0 |
| 1943 | 7 | #2,966 | 4.9 |
| 1942 | 8 | #2,713 | 5.8 |
| 1941 | 6 | #3,142 | 4.9 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,181 | 9.5 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,054 | 10.8 |
| 1938 | 13 | #1,982 | 11.7 |
| 1937 | 11 | #2,204 | 10.3 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,156 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 7 | #2,959 | 6.7 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,269 | 10.7 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,095 | 12.1 |
| 1932 | 14 | #1,998 | 13.4 |
| 1931 | 9 | #2,655 | 8.7 |
| 1930 | 18 | #1,756 | 16.4 |
| 1929 | 15 | #2,005 | 13.9 |
| 1928 | 16 | #1,961 | 14.4 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,039 | 14.2 |
| 1926 | 13 | #2,303 | 11.7 |
| 1925 | 19 | #1,809 | 17.0 |
| 1924 | 16 | #2,045 | 14.1 |
| 1923 | 14 | #2,224 | 12.8 |
| 1922 | 20 | #1,767 | 18.4 |
| 1921 | 11 | #2,633 | 10.0 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,135 | 14.1 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,512 | 11.2 |
| 1918 | 22 | #1,596 | 21.7 |
| 1917 | 22 | #1,529 | 23.8 |
| 1916 | 13 | #2,154 | 14.6 |
| 1915 | 15 | #1,879 | 17.7 |
| 1914 | 12 | #1,868 | 18.3 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,277 | 13.7 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,277 | 14.0 |
| 1894 | 7 | #859 | 60.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Alston a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alston has been given almost only to boys: 22 girls in 112 years of records.
Girls and boys named Alston: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alston, and how old are they?
2,090 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 80% of the 2,600 Americans ever recorded as Alston. The median Alston alive today is 22 years old; half are between 12 and 32.
The 2020 Census counted 2,096 people named Alston (143 women and girls, 1,953 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,986 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 31 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 123 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 98 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 426 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 801 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 606 |
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 Alston born?
The states with the most babies named Alston are North Carolina, California and New York, with 83% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 191 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| California | 190 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| New York | 158 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 44 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| South Carolina | 28 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Florida | 11 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Virginia | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Alston is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Alston is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 2.4 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 boys’ 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 Alston with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Alston
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 Alston and names like it
- Compare Alston and IshmaelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sAlston peaked in 2017.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alston since 1910.
- The top names of 2017The year the most babies were named Alston.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Alston alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with AMost given first.