Alaina
A feminine name of Scottish origin meaning "Echo", "Rock", or "Handsome".
Name Census estimates that about 48,200 living Americans carry the first name Alaina. It sits at #212 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alaina today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alaina births was 2011 (1,998 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alaina. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Alaina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
48K
~ 1 in 7,111 Americans
Peak year
2011
1,998 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
1989 SSA rank
#212
Tracked since 1946
Census
Alaina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 38,353 people with the first name Alaina, which placed it at #1,079 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
#1,079
National first-name rank
People counted
38K
38,353 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alaina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alaina is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Alaina 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 Alaina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.8% · 27,163
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 4,507
- Black or African American8.0% · 3,071
- Two or more races6.3% · 2,431
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 891
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 290
Gender
Gender distribution for Alaina
Out of the 49,207 babies given the name Alaina since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Alaina as a male name
- Ranked #6,960 in 1989
- 6 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (6 births)
Alaina as a female name
- Ranked #212 in 2024
- 1,444 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (1,998 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alaina appears almost entirely female. Of the 38,346 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Alaina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alaina from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 17,295 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alaina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alaina 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 Alaina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alainas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Alaina, while Vermont, Wyoming, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 922 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alaina
The name Alaina is a variant of the French name Alaine, which is derived from the Germanic name Alana. The name Alana is believed to have its origins in the Old German word "all," meaning "all" or "complete," and the suffix "-ana," which was a common ending for female names in Germanic languages.
The name Alaina first appeared in recorded history during the Middle Ages in France and other parts of Europe. It was a popular name among the nobility and upper classes during this time period. The earliest known recorded use of the name Alaina dates back to the 12th century.
In the 13th century, Alaina de Lacy was a prominent English noblewoman who lived from around 1200 to 1265. She was the daughter of John de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and played a significant role in the political affairs of her time.
Another notable historical figure with the name Alaina was Alaina Ferrante, an Italian painter who lived in the 16th century. She was one of the few female artists of the Renaissance period and was known for her portraits and religious paintings.
In the 17th century, Alaina de La Tour was a French noblewoman and writer. She was born around 1620 and is remembered for her memoirs, which provided insights into the lives of the French aristocracy during that era.
During the 19th century, Alaina Phinney was an American educator and activist. She was born in 1825 and was a pioneer in the field of education for women, founding one of the first schools for girls in the United States.
Alaina Lockhart was a Scottish author who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was born in 1869 and wrote several novels and short stories that explored themes of Scottish culture and history.
While the name Alaina has its roots in various European languages and cultures, it has gained popularity in modern times and is now used in many parts of the world. However, its historical origins and the stories of notable individuals who bore this name continue to shape its legacy and significance.
People
Alaina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alaina 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
Alaina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alaina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 48,200 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alaina 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 7,111 US residents.
Is Alaina a common name?
We classify Alaina as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 49,207 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alaina most popular?
The single biggest year for Alaina was 2011, when 1,998 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alaina is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alaina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 38,353 people with the name Alaina, or 12.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,079 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 Alaina 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 Alaina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alaina appears almost entirely female. Of the 38,346 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Alaina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alaina is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Alaina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alaina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.8% (27,163 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 Alaina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alaina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alaina 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 Alaina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alaina 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 Alaina 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 many people are called Alaina?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.