Alen
A name of uncertain origin meaning "precious" or "precious gift".
Name Census estimates that about 2,137 living Americans carry the first name Alen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Alen today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alen births was 2005 (83 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alen. 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 Alen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 160,390 Americans
Peak year
2005
83 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,550
Tracked since 1918
Census
Alen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,765 people with the first name Alen, which placed it at #4,800 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
#4,800
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,765 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alen is White at 66.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.0%). 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 Alen 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 Alen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.2% · 2,492
- Hispanic or Latino17.6% · 664
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.0% · 340
- Black or African American4.3% · 163
- Two or more races2.3% · 88
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 18
Popularity
Alen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alen from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 620 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Alen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alen 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 Alen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Alen, while Michigan, Iowa, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 79 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alen
The name Alen has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly in the Serbo-Croatian linguistic branch. It is a masculine given name derived from the Latin name Alanus, which itself is thought to have originated from the Breton word "alan" meaning "little rock" or "rock."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alen can be found in the 13th century, in the written works of Serbian writer and scholar Stefan Prvovencani. He mentions an individual named Alen who was a member of the Serbian nobility during that time period. This suggests that the name was already in use in the region by the early medieval era.
In the 14th century, the name appears in historical records related to the Republic of Ragusa (modern-day Dubrovnik, Croatia), where an Alen Gundulić is mentioned as a prominent merchant and ship owner. This indicates that the name had spread to coastal areas and was being used by influential families.
During the Renaissance period, the name Alen gained further popularity and recognition. One notable bearer of the name was Alen Crnojević (1499-1528), a Montenegrin lord and military commander who fought against the Ottoman Empire. His exploits and leadership during the Battle of Mohács in 1526 were widely celebrated and immortalized in literature and folklore.
In the 19th century, Alen Ožegović (1820-1888) was a Croatian writer, poet, and journalist who played a significant role in the Croatian National Revival movement. His literary works and contributions to the development of the Croatian language and national identity helped to further popularize the name Alen.
Another prominent figure with the name Alen was Alen Turing (1912-1954), the British mathematician, computer scientist, and codebreaker who made groundbreaking contributions to the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence. His work on the concept of the "Turing machine" and his code-breaking efforts during World War II have cemented his legacy as one of the most influential minds of the 20th century.
While these are just a few examples, the name Alen has been borne by numerous individuals throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence in various cultures and regions.
People
Alen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alen 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
Alen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,137 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alen 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 160,390 US residents.
Is Alen a common name?
We classify Alen as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,335 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alen most popular?
The single biggest year for Alen was 2005, when 83 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alen is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,765 people with the name Alen, or 1.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,800 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 Alen 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 Alen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alen leans strongly male. 3,655 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 113 female bearers (3.0%). 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 Alen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alen is White at 66.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.0%). 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 Alen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.2% (2,492 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 Alen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alen in the SSA data are male. 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 Alen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alen 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 Alen 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 share the name Alen?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.