Alta
Alta was given to 33 girls in 2025, #4,266 among girls’ names; 29,048 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,080 Americans named Alta and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (18% of everyone recorded); the median is 73 years old and half are between 52 and 83.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alta by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Alta mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Alta is “a female given name from Latin possibly from Latin alta (“high”), fairly common in the United States in the nineteenth century.”
Also “a male given name from Latin.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Alta?
#4,266 among girls’ names, 2025
Alta rose from #5,470 in 2015 to #4,266 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 13.4 to 20.5 per million.
820 babies in 1918, the peak
Alta peaked in 1918, when 820 girls were given it, #221 among girls’ names. The 33 births of 2025 are 4% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 33 | #4,266 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 20 | #5,967 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 30 | #4,570 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 31 | #4,475 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 35 | #4,097 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 25 | #5,012 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 30 | #4,550 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 30 | #4,564 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 24 | #5,354 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 34 | #4,256 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 24 | #5,470 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 19 | #6,463 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 30 | #4,650 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 15 | #7,820 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 21 | #6,154 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 17 | #7,232 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 18 | #7,077 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 17 | #7,431 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 19 | #6,825 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 14 | #8,264 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 21 | #5,810 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 15 | #7,409 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 16 | #6,899 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 22 | #5,259 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 20 | #5,580 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 24 | #4,794 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 18 | #5,673 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 12 | #7,558 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 21 | #4,826 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 15 | #6,072 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 17 | #5,447 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 19 | #5,016 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 24 | #4,257 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 24 | #4,237 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 16 | #5,665 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 22 | #4,380 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 33 | #3,161 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 20 | #4,309 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 21 | #3,985 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 20 | #4,032 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 27 | #3,249 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 34 | #2,677 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 29 | #2,910 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 42 | #2,327 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 25 | #3,342 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 38 | #2,487 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 37 | #2,479 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 43 | #2,159 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 44 | #2,125 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 36 | #2,293 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 44 | #1,989 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 37 | #2,172 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 43 | #1,913 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 40 | #1,989 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 43 | #1,968 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 53 | #1,720 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 52 | #1,668 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 52 | #1,594 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 39 | #1,881 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 52 | #1,549 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 54 | #1,516 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 65 | #1,393 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 41 | #1,815 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 70 | #1,324 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 76 | #1,267 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 88 | #1,162 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 83 | #1,164 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 101 | #1,040 | 0.05 |
| 1957 | 100 | #1,043 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 116 | #934 | 0.06 |
| 1955 | 117 | #905 | 0.06 |
| 1954 | 114 | #896 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 144 | #760 | 0.08 |
| 1952 | 166 | #690 | 0.09 |
| 1951 | 164 | #681 | 0.09 |
| 1950 | 175 | #646 | 0.10 |
| 1949 | 187 | #602 | 0.11 |
| 1948 | 181 | #614 | 0.11 |
| 1947 | 198 | #605 | 0.11 |
| 1946 | 202 | #558 | 0.13 |
| 1945 | 215 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1944 | 224 | #476 | 0.17 |
| 1943 | 239 | #476 | 0.17 |
| 1942 | 271 | #445 | 0.20 |
| 1941 | 247 | #436 | 0.20 |
| 1940 | 291 | #398 | 0.25 |
| 1939 | 288 | #392 | 0.26 |
| 1938 | 301 | #384 | 0.27 |
| 1937 | 325 | #356 | 0.31 |
| 1936 | 329 | #345 | 0.32 |
| 1935 | 376 | #325 | 0.36 |
| 1934 | 355 | #335 | 0.34 |
| 1933 | 424 | #294 | 0.42 |
| 1932 | 416 | #312 | 0.39 |
| 1931 | 429 | #307 | 0.40 |
| 1930 | 427 | #318 | 0.38 |
| 1929 | 477 | #305 | 0.43 |
| 1928 | 515 | #290 | 0.45 |
| 1927 | 564 | #281 | 0.47 |
| 1926 | 605 | #273 | 0.51 |
| 1925 | 598 | #271 | 0.49 |
| 1924 | 663 | #255 | 0.53 |
| 1923 | 629 | #255 | 0.52 |
| 1922 | 691 | #247 | 0.58 |
| 1921 | 741 | #243 | 0.60 |
| 1920 | 715 | #244 | 0.60 |
| 1919 | 738 | #231 | 0.65 |
| 1918 | 820 | #221 | 0.71 |
| 1917 | 783 | #217 | 0.72 |
| 1916 | 765 | #220 | 0.73 |
| 1915 | 721 | #222 | 0.73 |
| 1914 | 552 | #227 | 0.72 |
| 1913 | 486 | #213 | 0.78 |
| 1912 | 459 | #207 | 0.82 |
| 1911 | 357 | #201 | 0.85 |
| 1910 | 347 | #191 | 0.88 |
| 1909 | 327 | #180 | 0.94 |
| 1908 | 313 | #182 | 0.94 |
| 1907 | 319 | #176 | 1.0 |
| 1906 | 316 | #171 | 1.1 |
| 1905 | 316 | #167 | 1.1 |
| 1904 | 327 | #164 | 1.2 |
| 1903 | 282 | #172 | 1.1 |
| 1902 | 279 | #170 | 1.1 |
| 1901 | 275 | #165 | 1.1 |
| 1900 | 337 | #164 | 1.1 |
| 1899 | 278 | #161 | 1.2 |
| 1898 | 317 | #161 | 1.2 |
| 1897 | 295 | #155 | 1.3 |
| 1896 | 302 | #155 | 1.3 |
| 1895 | 277 | #156 | 1.2 |
| 1894 | 298 | #144 | 1.3 |
| 1893 | 274 | #147 | 1.3 |
| 1892 | 282 | #145 | 1.3 |
| 1891 | 239 | #146 | 1.3 |
| 1890 | 234 | #151 | 1.2 |
| 1889 | 226 | #147 | 1.3 |
| 1888 | 218 | #147 | 1.2 |
| 1887 | 187 | #139 | 1.3 |
| 1886 | 159 | #151 | 1.1 |
| 1885 | 155 | #144 | 1.2 |
| 1884 | 140 | #151 | 1.1 |
| 1883 | 114 | #156 | 1.0 |
| 1882 | 119 | #148 | 1.1 |
| 1881 | 114 | #137 | 1.2 |
| 1880 | 91 | #151 | 1.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Alta a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alta has been given almost only to girls: 117 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Alta: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alta, and how old are they?
5,080 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 18% of the 29,048 Americans ever recorded as Alta. The median Alta alive today is 73 years old; half are between 52 and 83.
The 2020 Census counted 6,240 people named Alta (6,182 women and girls, 58 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,617 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,560 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,780 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 654 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 377 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 287 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 363 |
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 Alta born?
The states with the most babies named Alta are Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri, with 24% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Oklahoma and Missouri are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 1,827 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Oklahoma | 1,296 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Missouri | 1,149 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Kentucky | 1,065 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Arkansas | 896 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Illinois | 881 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 777 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 764 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| California | 761 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Indiana | 593 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Alta is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Alta is most over-represented in Idaho: since 1910 it was given 3.3 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 Alta 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 40,170 babies since 1880, Alta is the most given (72% of them). In 2025 it was given to 33 of their 149 babies (22%), the second most given that year.
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 Alta
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 Alta and names like it
- Compare Alta and AletaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sAlta peaked in 1918.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alta since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Alta: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Alta.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Alta alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.