Alina
A feminine diminutive form of the Greek name Alena, meaning "bright" or "light-bearer".
Name Census estimates that about 42,309 living Americans carry the first name Alina. It sits at #135 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alina today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alina births was 2024 (2,180 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alina. 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 Alina with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Alina is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
42K
~ 1 in 8,101 Americans
Peak year
2024
2,180 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#135
Tracked since 1892
Census
Alina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 41,651 people with the first name Alina, which placed it at #1,020 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
#1,020
National first-name rank
People counted
42K
41,651 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
13.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
41.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alina is Hispanic at 41.4%. The next largest groups are White (40.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.8%). 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 Alina 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 Alina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino41.4% · 17,226
- White40.1% · 16,699
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.8% · 4,512
- Two or more races4.2% · 1,756
- Black or African American3.2% · 1,323
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 135
Popularity
Alina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alina from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 15,598 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alina 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 Alina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Alina, while West Virginia, Montana, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 846 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alina
The name Alina has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly Russian and Ukrainian. It is a feminine form of the male name Alin, derived from the ancient Roman name Alinus, which itself comes from the Latin word "alinus" meaning "of the alder tree."
The earliest known use of the name Alina dates back to the 12th century in Kievan Rus', a medieval East Slavic state. It was a relatively uncommon name during this period but gained popularity in later centuries, particularly in Russia and Ukraine.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name Alina was Alina Semyonovna Kuzmina (1909-1942), a Soviet military pilot who served during World War II. She was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously for her bravery and sacrifice.
Another famous Alina from history was Alina Sanko (1916-1999), a Soviet and Ukrainian actress known for her roles in numerous films and theater productions. She was a recipient of the prestigious People's Artist of the USSR award.
In the realm of literature, the name Alina is associated with the character Alina Bronsky from the novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera, published in 1984. Alina was a photographer and one of the central characters in the novel.
Alina Dzhambazka (born 1957) is a Bulgarian singer and actress who has had a successful career spanning several decades. She is known for her powerful vocals and has released numerous albums, as well as appearing in various films and television shows.
Alina Kabaeva (born 1983) is a Russian retired rhythmic gymnast who won multiple Olympic medals and World Championships. After her retirement from gymnastics, she pursued a career in politics and is currently a member of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals named Alina throughout history, showcasing the name's rich cultural heritage and its presence across various fields and areas of influence.
People
Alina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alina 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
Alina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 42,309 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alina 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 8,101 US residents.
Is Alina a common name?
We classify Alina as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 43,173 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alina most popular?
The single biggest year for Alina was 2024, when 2,180 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alina is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 41,651 people with the name Alina, or 13.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,020 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 Alina 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 Alina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alina appears almost entirely female. Of the 41,648 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 Alina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alina is Hispanic at 41.4%. The next largest groups are White (40.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.8%). 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 Alina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Alina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.4% (17,226 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 Alina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alina 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 Alina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alina 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 Alina 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 Alina?
You can see how many Americans are named Alina on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.