Aline
A French feminine name meaning "light" or "noble" of Germanic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 4,205 living Americans carry the first name Aline. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aline today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aline births was 1920 (445 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aline. 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 Aline with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.2K
~ 1 in 81,511 Americans
Peak year
1920
445 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
1919 SSA rank
#4,175
Tracked since 1880
Census
Aline in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,190 people with the first name Aline, which placed it at #2,825 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
#2,825
National first-name rank
People counted
8.2K
8,190 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aline
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aline is White at 60.0%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Hispanic (14.4%). 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 Aline 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 Aline at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.0% · 4,915
- Black or African American18.3% · 1,497
- Hispanic or Latino14.4% · 1,179
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 348
- Two or more races2.6% · 213
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 38
Gender
Gender distribution for Aline
Out of the 14,629 babies given the name Aline 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.
Aline as a male name
- Ranked #4,175 in 1919
- 5 male births in 1919
- Peak: 1919 (5 births)
Aline as a female name
- Ranked #4,280 in 2024
- 33 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (445 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aline appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,195 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Aline: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aline from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 3,416 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aline 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 Aline during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. Louisiana, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Aline, while Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 290 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aline
The name Aline originates from the French language and can be traced back to the medieval period. It is a feminine form of the French masculine name Alain, which itself derives from the ancient Germanic name Alanus or Alo. The name Alanus is believed to have come from the Proto-Germanic root "alu," meaning "beyond" or "other."
In the Middle Ages, the name Aline was popular among the French nobility and aristocracy. One of the earliest recorded bearers of this name was Aline de Thouars, a 12th-century French noblewoman who was the Viscountess of Châtellerault and Lady of Thouars. Another notable historical figure was Aline de Comminges, a 13th-century French noblewoman who was the wife of Bernard VI, Count of Comminges.
During the Renaissance period, the name Aline gained popularity across Europe, especially in France and other parts of Western Europe. One famous bearer of this name from this era was Aline Desbarres, a 16th-century French poet and writer. She was known for her love poems and sonnets, which were published in various collections during her lifetime.
In the 17th century, the name Aline was borne by Aline Solliard, a Swiss Protestant who was executed for her religious beliefs during the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland. Her martyrdom and steadfast faith made her a revered figure among Swiss Protestants, and her name became associated with courage and conviction.
Another notable figure from history who bore the name Aline was Aline Stein, a 19th-century French author and feminist activist. She was a prominent figure in the early women's rights movement in France and wrote extensively on the subject of women's education and emancipation.
Other historical figures named Aline include Aline van Barentzen (1607-1677), a Dutch poet and playwright; Aline Griffith (1923-1998), an American actress and model; and Aline Sitoé (1959-2015), a Mozambican writer and journalist who played a significant role in the literary and cultural life of her country.
People
Aline + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aline 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
Aline: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aline?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,205 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aline 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 81,511 US residents.
Is Aline a common name?
We classify Aline as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,629 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aline most popular?
The single biggest year for Aline was 1920, when 445 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aline is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aline in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,190 people with the name Aline, or 2.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,825 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 Aline 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 Aline?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aline appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,195 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Aline?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aline is White at 60.0%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and Hispanic (14.4%). 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 Aline most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aline in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.0% (4,915 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 Aline in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aline a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aline 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 Aline still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aline 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 Aline 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 Aline?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Aline at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.