Alison
- Pronunciation
- [A-li-son]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Diminutive Form Of Old German Alice, "Woman Of Noble Estate."Variants Include Aili, Alisann, Alisanne, Alisoun, Alisun, Allcen, Allcenne, Allicen, Allicenne, Allie, Allisann, Allisanne, Allison, Allisoun, Allsun, Ally, Allysann, Allysanne, Ally
- Origin
- German
About the Name Alison
Alison descends from the Old French Aliçon, a diminutive form of Alice (see separate entry on Alice for the Old Germanic Adalheidis etymology meaning "of noble kind" or "noble birth"). The name has been used continuously in English-speaking countries since the medieval period.
Notable bearers include American novelist Alison Bechdel (born 1960, the iconic American cartoonist and graphic-novelist whose 2006 graphic memoir Fun Home became one of the foundational works of contemporary graphic-fiction literature, and whose "Bechdel test" for women in cinema became a cultural touchstone); American singer Alison Krauss (born 1971, the iconic American bluegrass and country singer who has won 27 Grammy Awards); and contemporary American actress Alison Brie (born 1982, the American actress of NBC's Community).
Alison held a US top-100 girls' rank from 1976 through 2000 — about two decades of consistent American popularity. The name has receded slightly since but remains in steady use, currently sitting in the US top 300 girls' rank. The name's appeal is its layered Germanic-Norman-French pedigree combined with three flowing syllables — the in-built Alice-noble pedigree, the strong Alison Bechdel literary cultural anchor and Alison Krauss music cultural anchor, and tonal warmth distinctive to vintage-revival names. Common nicknames Ali (the dominant warm short form, casual and warm — also a popular standalone name on its own), Allie, Liz (back-end shortening, alternate), and the rare Sona each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Allison (the more popular American spelling), Alyson, Alisson, and Alison have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Aliçon (Old French original), Allison (the popular American variant), and the broader Alice/Adelheid family.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Alison
US Popularity History (1985–2025)
Annual US births named Alison by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1986 with 2,975 girls named Alison (girl rank #96 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #476 for girls (644 US births). That's 380 places below its 1986 peak.
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 Alison 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 Alison the strongest states are New Mexico, California, Texas.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico | #234 | 45 |
| 2 | California | #255 | 1,274 |
| 3 | Texas | #315 | 966 |
| 4 | Idaho | #321 | 24 |
| 5 | Connecticut | #328 | 48 |
| 6 | Nevada | #345 | 82 |
| 7 | Maryland | #348 | 149 |
| 8 | Nebraska | #350 | 38 |
| 9 | New Jersey | #372 | 204 |
| 10 | Arizona | #375 | 173 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan | #692 | 92 |
| 2 | Louisiana | #669 | 62 |
| 3 | Ohio | #663 | 138 |
| 4 | Missouri | #662 | 74 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | #627 | 148 |
| 6 | Indiana | #623 | 88 |
| 7 | Alabama | #556 | 70 |
| 8 | Mississippi | #551 | 15 |
| 9 | Kentucky | #550 | 46 |
| 10 | Wisconsin | #535 | 87 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Alison in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Looking for names like Alison?
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 Alison to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Alison against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).