Alise
A feminine French name derived from the Germanic name Adelais, meaning "noble".
Name Census estimates that about 3,202 living Americans carry the first name Alise. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alise today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alise births was 1987 (92 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alise. 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 Alise with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 107,044 Americans
Peak year
1987
92 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,607
Tracked since 1908
Census
Alise in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,275 people with the first name Alise, which placed it at #5,297 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
#5,297
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,275 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alise
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alise is White at 55.5%. The next largest groups are Black (25.1%) and Hispanic (11.3%). 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 Alise 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 Alise at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.5% · 1,818
- Black or African American25.1% · 821
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 371
- Two or more races5.5% · 180
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 60
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 25
Popularity
Alise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alise from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 740 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alise 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 Alise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alises live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Alise, while Washington, South Carolina, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alise
The name Alise is derived from the French variation of the Germanic name Adeliza, which itself originated from the Old German words "adal" meaning "noble" and "lind" meaning "serpent" or "snake". It is believed that the name first emerged during the Middle Ages in regions now encompassed by modern-day France and Germany.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alise can be found in the 12th century chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon, where it is mentioned as the name of a Norman noblewoman, Alise of Thouars, who lived from around 1092 to 1153. She was the wife of Geoffroy V, Count of Anjou, and played a significant role in the dynastic struggles of the time.
Another notable figure bearing the name Alise was Alise of Champagne, a 13th-century French noblewoman who lived from around 1192 to 1242. She was the daughter of Count Henry II of Champagne and was renowned for her beauty and intelligence.
In the realm of literature, the name Alise appears in the 14th-century French chivalric romance "Perceforest". The character, Alise, is portrayed as a brave and virtuous princess who undergoes a series of adventures and trials.
Moving forward in time, Alise de Lannoy (1480-1521) was a Flemish noblewoman and courtier to Archduchess Margaret of Austria. She is noted for her involvement in the political intrigues of the era and her influential role at the court.
Lastly, Alise Andree Rautenstrauch (1894-1980) was a prominent American mathematician and educator. She made significant contributions to the field of algebraic geometry and held esteemed positions at various prestigious universities throughout her career.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the name Alise throughout history, showcasing its enduring presence across different cultures and time periods.
People
Alise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alise 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
Alise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,202 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alise 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 107,044 US residents.
Is Alise a common name?
We classify Alise as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,583 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alise most popular?
The single biggest year for Alise was 1987, when 92 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alise is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alise in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,275 people with the name Alise, or 1.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,297 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 Alise 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 Alise?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alise appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,280 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Alise?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alise is White at 55.5%. The next largest groups are Black (25.1%) and Hispanic (11.3%). 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 Alise most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alise in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.5% (1,818 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 Alise in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alise a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alise 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 Alise still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alise 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 Alise 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 the name Alise?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.