Alanna
- Pronunciation
- [A-la-nna]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- "Rock" Or "Comely; Beautiful." Also Possibly A Derivative Of Old French Elaine (Bright; Shining) Or Greek Helen (Light). Variants Include Alain, Alaina, Alaine, Alana, Alane, Alannah, Alayne, Alene, Aleyna, Aleyne, Alina, Alleen, Allen
- Origin
- Gaelic
About the Name Alanna
Alanna is the elaborated feminine form of Alan (see separate entry on Alan for the Old Breton/Old Irish etymology meaning "rock" or "high one," possibly from the Old Irish ailín meaning "little rock"). The double-N Alanna spelling is essentially a 20th-21st century American/Irish-American invention, distinguishing the feminine usage from the historically masculine Alan.
The various spellings (Alanna, Alana, Alannah, Alaina) are tracked separately by SSA and represent the same underlying Celtic-derived name. The Alanna spelling specifically appeals to parents seeking a more elaborate form than the simpler Alana.
Notable bearers include American actress Alanna Ubach (born 1975, the American actress of Bombshell 2019); contemporary American basketball player Alanna Wright; and the contemporary fictional Alanna of various contemporary novels including the iconic Alanna of Trebond of Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness series. Alanna's American climb has been substantial: the name climbed from outside the US top 1000 in 1995 to the US top 300 girls' rank by 2014 and the top 300 since. The name has been driven primarily by Irish-American naming and the broader American taste for elegant Celtic-derived girls' names. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the layered Old Breton-Irish-Celtic pedigree, the popular three-syllable -ana ending family (Alanna, Briana, Liana, Adriana), and the modern visual presence with the distinctive double-N spelling. Three flowing syllables, soft consonants, and tonal warmth distinctive to Celtic-derived naming. The name reads as both classical-Celtic and contemporary American. Common nicknames Lana (back-end shortening, a popular standalone name on its own), Alanna-bear, Anna, and the rare Lannie each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Alanna, Alana, Alannah, Alaina, and Alayna have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Alana (Irish/Spanish), Alaine (French alternate), and the broader Alan/Alain family.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Alanna
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Alanna by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2025 with 1,099 girls named Alanna (girl rank #280 that year).
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Alanna Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Alanna the strongest states are New Mexico, Florida, Connecticut.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico | #285 | 30 |
| 2 | Florida | #304 | 590 |
| 3 | Connecticut | #328 | 77 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | #339 | 166 |
| 5 | New Jersey | #341 | 239 |
| 6 | Nevada | #388 | 51 |
| 7 | New York | #419 | 408 |
| 8 | Utah | #426 | 32 |
| 9 | Mississippi | #444 | 19 |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | #453 | 220 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Alanna in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alani | Dear Child. | Female | Irish |
Looking for names like Alanna?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Alanna to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Alanna against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).