Alisan
A feminine name of Arabic origin, meaning "beautiful woman".
Name Census estimates that about 76 living Americans carry the first name Alisan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alisan today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alisan births was 1988 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alisan. 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 Alisan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Alisan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
76
~ 1 in 4,509,926 Americans
Peak year
1988
11 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
1993 SSA rank
#11,827
Tracked since 1971
Census
Alisan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 179 people with the first name Alisan, which placed it at #41,133 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
#41,133
National first-name rank
People counted
179
179 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alisan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alisan is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.6%) and Black (10.1%). 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 Alisan 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 Alisan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.5% · 119
- Hispanic or Latino10.6% · 19
- Black or African American10.1% · 18
- Two or more races7.3% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 4
Popularity
Alisan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alisan from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 31 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alisan 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 Alisan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alisan
The name Alisan has its origins in the Persian language, tracing back to the ancient Iranian civilization. It is believed to have derived from the old Persian word "Alisan," which means "noble" or "high-born." This name was commonly used among the aristocratic and noble classes of ancient Persia.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Alisan can be found in the Shahnameh, the epic poem written by the renowned Persian poet Ferdowsi in the 10th century AD. In this literary masterpiece, Alisan is mentioned as the name of a character, a brave warrior and nobleman.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Alisan. One of the most famous was Alisan ibn Abi al-Hujr al-Kindi (801-873 AD), a prominent Arab mathematician and philosopher from the Abbasid era. He made significant contributions to the fields of algebra, optics, and the study of cryptography.
Another historical figure with the name Alisan was Alisan al-Dimashqi (1256-1327 AD), a renowned Arab historian and geographer from Damascus. He authored several influential works, including a comprehensive geographical encyclopedia titled "The Travels of Ibn Battuta."
In the 14th century, Alisan al-Razi (1330-1395 AD) was a Persian physician and philosopher who made notable contributions to the field of medicine. His writings on various medical topics, including the treatment of diseases and the use of herbs, were widely studied and respected.
During the 16th century, Alisan Bey (1510-1572 AD) was a prominent Ottoman statesman and military commander. He served as the governor of several provinces and played a crucial role in the expansion of the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
The name Alisan has a rich historical legacy, rooted in the Persian culture and language. Its association with nobility, bravery, and intellectual pursuits has been exemplified by the notable individuals who have carried this name throughout the centuries.
People
Alisan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alisan 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
Alisan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alisan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 76 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alisan 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 4,509,926 US residents.
Is Alisan a common name?
We classify Alisan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 81 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alisan most popular?
The single biggest year for Alisan was 1988, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alisan is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alisan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 179 people with the name Alisan, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,133 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 Alisan 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 Alisan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alisan leans strongly female. 170 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 12 male bearers (6.6%). 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 Alisan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alisan is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.6%) and Black (10.1%). 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 Alisan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alisan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.5% (119 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 Alisan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alisan a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alisan 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 Alisan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alisan 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 Alisan 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 have Alisan as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.