Alys
Alys was given to 27 girls in 2025, #4,884 among girls’ names; 1,359 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alys by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Alys mean?
Wiktionary, Welsh section
Alys is “a female given name, equivalent to English Alice” Its etymology gives the senses “noble” (*aþalaz) and “character” (*haiduz).
From Old French Alys, Alice, from Old High German Adalheid, from Proto-Germanic *aþalaz (“noble”) + *haiduz (“character”).
/ˈalɨ̞s/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Welsh section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Alys?
#4,884 among girls’ names, 2025
Alys rose from #7,289 in 2015 to #4,884 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 9.0 to 16.8 per million.
29 babies in 1920, the peak
Alys peaked in 1920, when 29 girls were given it, #1,512 among girls’ names. The 27 births of 2025 are 93% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 27 | #4,884 | 16.8 |
| 2024 | 25 | #5,158 | 15.4 |
| 2023 | 29 | #4,661 | 18.1 |
| 2022 | 14 | #7,651 | 8.5 |
| 2021 | 20 | #5,963 | 12.2 |
| 2020 | 11 | #8,980 | 6.8 |
| 2019 | 9 | #10,530 | 5.4 |
| 2018 | 14 | #7,781 | 8.2 |
| 2017 | 17 | #6,819 | 9.8 |
| 2016 | 7 | #12,973 | 4.0 |
Every recorded year (120)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,289 | 9.0 |
| 2014 | 15 | #7,665 | 8.4 |
| 2013 | 9 | #11,068 | 5.1 |
| 2012 | 18 | #6,886 | 10.2 |
| 2011 | 17 | #7,134 | 9.7 |
| 2010 | 11 | #9,826 | 6.2 |
| 2009 | 9 | #11,510 | 4.9 |
| 2008 | 9 | #11,655 | 4.8 |
| 2007 | 9 | #11,677 | 4.7 |
| 2006 | 7 | #13,681 | 3.7 |
| 2005 | 14 | #7,915 | 7.6 |
| 2004 | 10 | #9,930 | 5.4 |
| 2002 | 10 | #9,511 | 5.6 |
| 2001 | 6 | #13,594 | 3.3 |
| 2000 | 10 | #9,190 | 5.5 |
| 1998 | 5 | #14,237 | 2.8 |
| 1997 | 5 | #13,829 | 2.9 |
| 1996 | 8 | #9,616 | 4.6 |
| 1995 | 5 | #13,491 | 2.8 |
| 1994 | 11 | #7,623 | 6.2 |
| 1993 | 9 | #8,746 | 5.0 |
| 1991 | 13 | #6,597 | 6.9 |
| 1990 | 6 | #11,455 | 3.2 |
| 1989 | 17 | #5,050 | 9.2 |
| 1988 | 17 | #4,843 | 9.5 |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,369 | 5.2 |
| 1986 | 9 | #7,145 | 5.2 |
| 1985 | 8 | #7,580 | 4.6 |
| 1984 | 8 | #7,417 | 4.8 |
| 1983 | 9 | #6,732 | 5.4 |
| 1980 | 5 | #10,434 | 3.0 |
| 1979 | 8 | #7,329 | 5.0 |
| 1976 | 9 | #6,057 | 6.1 |
| 1975 | 12 | #4,862 | 8.2 |
| 1974 | 5 | #8,816 | 3.4 |
| 1973 | 7 | #6,681 | 4.8 |
| 1972 | 7 | #6,579 | 4.6 |
| 1971 | 6 | #7,406 | 3.6 |
| 1970 | 11 | #4,764 | 6.3 |
| 1969 | 7 | #5,988 | 4.1 |
| 1968 | 5 | #7,036 | 3.0 |
| 1967 | 8 | #4,993 | 4.8 |
| 1966 | 9 | #4,501 | 5.3 |
| 1965 | 9 | #4,503 | 5.1 |
| 1964 | 7 | #5,483 | 3.7 |
| 1963 | 6 | #5,902 | 3.1 |
| 1962 | 6 | #5,869 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 7 | #5,318 | 3.5 |
| 1960 | 6 | #5,716 | 3.0 |
| 1959 | 7 | #5,045 | 3.5 |
| 1958 | 10 | #3,926 | 5.0 |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,388 | 2.9 |
| 1956 | 14 | #3,188 | 7.0 |
| 1955 | 5 | #5,848 | 2.6 |
| 1954 | 11 | #3,491 | 5.7 |
| 1953 | 8 | #4,239 | 4.3 |
| 1952 | 9 | #3,812 | 4.9 |
| 1951 | 13 | #2,939 | 7.2 |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,334 | 4.1 |
| 1949 | 10 | #3,395 | 5.8 |
| 1948 | 6 | #4,664 | 3.5 |
| 1947 | 7 | #4,355 | 3.9 |
| 1946 | 9 | #3,432 | 5.7 |
| 1945 | 5 | #4,578 | 3.8 |
| 1944 | 15 | #2,293 | 11.3 |
| 1942 | 12 | #2,671 | 8.9 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,573 | 5.8 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,425 | 10.5 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,745 | 9.1 |
| 1938 | 12 | #2,450 | 10.9 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,948 | 8.5 |
| 1936 | 9 | #2,864 | 8.7 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,573 | 10.5 |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,543 | 10.9 |
| 1932 | 13 | #2,367 | 12.2 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,755 | 9.4 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,426 | 11.5 |
| 1929 | 14 | #2,306 | 12.5 |
| 1928 | 11 | #2,770 | 9.5 |
| 1927 | 21 | #1,887 | 17.6 |
| 1926 | 19 | #2,002 | 16.0 |
| 1925 | 13 | #2,622 | 10.7 |
| 1924 | 25 | #1,726 | 20.0 |
| 1923 | 26 | #1,638 | 21.6 |
| 1922 | 17 | #2,189 | 14.2 |
| 1921 | 24 | #1,767 | 19.5 |
| 1920 | 29 | #1,512 | 24.2 |
| 1919 | 12 | #2,644 | 10.6 |
| 1918 | 26 | #1,571 | 22.5 |
| 1917 | 24 | #1,553 | 22.2 |
| 1916 | 17 | #1,951 | 16.3 |
| 1915 | 19 | #1,743 | 19.3 |
| 1914 | 18 | #1,542 | 23.6 |
| 1913 | 17 | #1,406 | 27.2 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,623 | 21.5 |
| 1911 | 6 | #2,201 | 14.3 |
| 1910 | 19 | #998 | 47.9 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,971 | 17.3 |
| 1908 | 16 | #1,006 | 47.9 |
| 1907 | 6 | #1,833 | 18.8 |
| 1906 | 11 | #1,154 | 37.3 |
| 1903 | 7 | #1,444 | 26.7 |
| 1902 | 7 | #1,448 | 26.5 |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,568 | 23.4 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,510 | 23.2 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,561 | 21.3 |
| 1894 | 8 | #1,138 | 35.9 |
| 1890 | 7 | #1,103 | 36.8 |
| 1888 | 6 | #1,140 | 33.6 |
| 1880 | 5 | #840 | 54.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Alys a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alys has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 120 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Alys: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alys, and how old are they?
An estimated 744 Americans named Alys and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (55% of everyone recorded); the median is 32 years old and half are between 11 and 59. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 769 people named Alys (759 women and girls, 10 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 679 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Alys rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 2,819 babies since 1880, Alys is the most given (48% of them). In 2025 it was given to 27 of their 87 babies (31%), 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 Alys
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 Alys and names like it
- Compare Alys and AlisBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sAlys peaked in 1920.
- Florida’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alys since 1910.
- Welsh namesWiktionary’s origin for Alys: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Alys.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Alys alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.