Ali
A masculine Arabic name meaning "high" or "exalted".
Name Census estimates that about 42,620 living Americans carry the first name Ali. It sits at #323 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Ali today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ali births was 2015 (1,251 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ali. 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 Ali with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
43K
~ 1 in 8,042 Americans
Peak year
2015
1,251 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#323
Tracked since 1914
Census
Ali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 69,300 people with the first name Ali, which placed it at #735 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
#735
National first-name rank
People counted
69K
69,300 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
22.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ali is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.0%) and Black (11.1%). 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 Ali 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 Ali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.2% · 43,781
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.0% · 9,017
- Black or African American11.1% · 7,659
- Two or more races6.3% · 4,350
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 4,285
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 208
Gender
Gender distribution for Ali
Ali is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 43,710 total registrations, 33,255 (76.1%) were male and 10,455 (23.9%) were female.
Ali as a male name
- Ranked #323 in 2024
- 1,061 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (1,124 births)
Ali as a female name
- Ranked #2,524 in 2024
- 70 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (391 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ali leans strongly male. 55,928 people counted with this name were male (80.7%), compared with 13,374 female bearers (19.3%).
Popularity
Ali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ali from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 12,137 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ali remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ali 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 Ali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Michigan, New York recorded the most babies named Ali, while Wyoming, North Dakota, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 812 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ali
The name Ali has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word 'Ali', which means 'high', 'elevated', or 'sublime'. The name has been in use since ancient times in the Middle East and has a rich history spanning centuries.
Ali is a prominent name in Islamic tradition and is closely associated with Ali ibn Abi Talib (599-661 CE), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. He was the first male convert to Islam and is revered as the fourth caliph by Sunni Muslims and the first Imam by Shia Muslims. The name gained widespread popularity among Muslims due to its association with this influential figure in Islamic history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ali can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. The name appears multiple times, referring to both Ali ibn Abi Talib and other individuals with the same name.
Throughout history, there have been numerous notable individuals who bore the name Ali. Here are five examples:
1. Ali al-Ridha (766-818 CE), the eighth Imam in Twelver Shia Islam and a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
2. Ali ibn Abi Talib (599-661 CE), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, and the fourth caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.
3. Ali Pasha (1741-1822), an Ottoman military commander and the founder of modern-day Albania.
4. Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha (766-818 CE), a prominent Islamic scholar and the eighth Imam in Twelver Shia Islam.
5. Ali al-Hadi (828-868 CE), the tenth Imam in Twelver Shia Islam and a renowned scholar of Islamic jurisprudence.
The name Ali has transcended its Arabic origins and has been adopted by various cultures and communities around the world, particularly in regions with significant Muslim populations. It continues to be a popular name, carrying a rich historical and cultural significance.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ali
People
Ali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ali 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
Ali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 42,620 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ali 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 8,042 US residents.
Is Ali a common name?
We classify Ali as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 43,710 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ali most popular?
The single biggest year for Ali was 2015, when 1,251 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ali is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 69,300 people with the name Ali, or 22.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #735 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 Ali 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 Ali?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ali leans strongly male. 55,928 people counted with this name were male (80.7%), compared with 13,374 female bearers (19.3%). 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 Ali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ali is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (13.0%) and Black (11.1%). 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 Ali most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.2% (43,781 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 Ali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ali a male name?
Yes, 76.1% of people registered as Ali 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 Ali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ali 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 Ali 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 named Ali?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.