Adaly
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from the Spanish surname Adalia.
Name Census estimates that about 931 living Americans carry the first name Adaly. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Adaly today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Adaly births was 2022 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Adaly. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
931
~ 1 in 368,157 Americans
Peak year
2022
74 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,072
Tracked since 1993
Census
Adaly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 685 people with the first name Adaly, which placed it at #16,462 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#16,462
National first-name rank
People counted
685
685 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
92.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Adaly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adaly is Hispanic at 92.0%. The next largest groups are White (6.4%) and Black (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Adaly described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Adaly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.0% · 630
- White6.4% · 44
- Black or African American0.7% · 5
- Two or more races0.7% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Popularity
Adaly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Adaly from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 416 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Adaly remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Adaly by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Adaly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Adalys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Adaly, while Illinois, Georgia, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 101 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Adaly
The name Adaly finds its roots in the ancient Sumerian language, originating from the region of Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, around the 3rd millennium BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Sumerian word "adal," which means "fair" or "just." This name was likely bestowed upon individuals who were perceived as embodying these virtues.
One of the earliest known references to the name Adaly can be found in cuneiform inscriptions from the city of Ur, dating back to the Sumerian Renaissance period around 2500 BCE. These inscriptions suggest that the name was relatively common among the nobility and upper classes of Sumerian society.
In later centuries, the name Adaly appeared in various ancient texts and religious scriptures across the Middle East. For instance, there are references to an Adaly who was a prominent merchant in the ancient city of Babylon during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BCE.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Adaly. One of the earliest recorded was Adaly of Tarsus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the 2nd century BCE and was known for his teachings on ethics and virtue.
During the Byzantine Empire, Adaly Phocas was a distinguished military commander who played a crucial role in the defense of Constantinople against the Arab siege in 717 CE.
In the Islamic world, Adaly ibn Fadlan was a 10th-century Arab traveler and writer who documented his journey to the lands of the Volga Bulgars, providing valuable insights into the customs and cultures of the region.
In the realm of literature, Adaly al-Jahiz was a renowned Arab prose writer and scholar who lived in the 9th century CE and made significant contributions to the development of Arabic prose and literary criticism.
Another noteworthy figure was Adaly Khayyam, a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet who lived in the 11th century CE and is best known for his influential work on algebra and his famous quatrains, known as the Rubaiyat.
While the name Adaly has had a long and rich history, its usage has waxed and waned over time, with periods of popularity and obscurity across different cultures and regions.
People
Adaly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Adaly as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Adaly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Adaly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 931 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Adaly going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 368,157 US residents.
Is Adaly a common name?
We classify Adaly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 940 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Adaly most popular?
The single biggest year for Adaly was 2022, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Adaly is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Adaly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 685 people with the name Adaly, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,462 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Adaly in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Adaly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Adaly leans strongly female. 638 people counted with this name were female (91.7%), compared with 58 male bearers (8.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Adaly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adaly is Hispanic at 92.0%. The next largest groups are White (6.4%) and Black (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Adaly most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Adaly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.0% (630 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Adaly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Adaly a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Adaly in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Adaly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Adaly in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Adaly can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Adaly?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Adaly at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.