Ally
A diminutive of Alexandra, feminine form of Alexander, meaning "defender of mankind".
Name Census estimates that about 10,006 living Americans carry the first name Ally. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ally today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ally births was 1998 (636 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ally. 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 Ally with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
10K
~ 1 in 34,255 Americans
Peak year
1998
636 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,876
Tracked since 1985
Census
Ally in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,525 people with the first name Ally, which placed it at #2,025 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
#2,025
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
13,525 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ally
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ally is White at 75.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). 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 Ally 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 Ally at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.8% · 10,252
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 1,535
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.2% · 833
- Two or more races3.4% · 459
- Black or African American2.5% · 341
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 105
Gender
Gender distribution for Ally
Out of the 10,158 babies given the name Ally since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Ally as a male name
- Ranked #9,915 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (7 births)
Ally as a female name
- Ranked #1,876 in 2024
- 106 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (636 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ally leans strongly female. 13,287 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 238 male bearers (1.8%).
Popularity
Ally: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ally from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 4,149 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
Ally 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 Ally during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Allys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Ally, while New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 205 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ally
The name Ally is a diminutive form of the female name Alice, derived from the Old French name Alis, which in turn originated from the German name Adalheidis. Adalheidis was a Germanic name composed of the elements "adal," meaning noble, and "heid," meaning kind or sort.
The name Alice gained popularity in medieval France and England after being brought over by the Normans in the 11th century. The shortened form Ally emerged as a nickname for Alice, particularly in English-speaking countries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ally can be found in the 16th century play "The Spanish Tragedy" by Thomas Kyd, where a character named Ally appears. The name Ally was also used as a character name in various literary works throughout the centuries.
In the religious context, Ally does not have any direct historical significance, as it is a diminutive form rather than a name with its own distinct meaning or origin.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ally, including:
1. Ally Sheedy (born 1962), an American actress known for her roles in films like "The Breakfast Club" and "WarGames."
2. Ally McBeal (fictional character), the titular character of the popular TV series "Ally McBeal," which aired from 1997 to 2002.
3. Ally Brooke (born 1993), an American singer and member of the girl group Fifth Harmony.
4. Ally Carter (born 1976), an American author best known for her young adult spy fiction novels, including the "Gallagher Girls" series.
5. Ally Wister (1869-1957), an American writer and poet who was part of the literary circle in Philadelphia.
While the name Ally has gained popularity in recent times, its origins can be traced back to the medieval era, with its roots in the German and French languages, and its connection to the name Alice.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ally
People
Ally + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ally 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
Ally: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ally?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,006 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ally 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 34,255 US residents.
Is Ally a common name?
We classify Ally as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,158 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ally most popular?
The single biggest year for Ally was 1998, when 636 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ally is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ally in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,525 people with the name Ally, or 4.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,025 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 Ally 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 Ally?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ally leans strongly female. 13,287 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 238 male bearers (1.8%). 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 Ally?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ally is White at 75.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). 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 Ally most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ally in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.8% (10,252 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 Ally in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ally a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Ally 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 Ally still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ally 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 Ally 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 Ally?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.