Allyse
A feminine variant of Alice, derived from the Old German "Adalheid" meaning noble.
Name Census estimates that about 718 living Americans carry the first name Allyse. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Allyse today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Allyse births was 1988 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Allyse. 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.
People living today
718
~ 1 in 477,374 Americans
Peak year
1988
56 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,415
Tracked since 1971
Census
Allyse in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 716 people with the first name Allyse, which placed it at #15,916 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
#15,916
National first-name rank
People counted
716
716 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Allyse
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Allyse is White at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Black (13.1%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Allyse 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 Allyse at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.0% · 494
- Black or African American13.1% · 94
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 70
- Two or more races6.1% · 44
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Allyse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Allyse from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 237 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Allyse remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Allyse 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 Allyse during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Allyses live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Arizona, Michigan recorded the most babies named Allyse, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Allyse
The name Allyse is a variant of the name Alice, which originated from the Old French name Alis, a diminutive of the Germanic name Adalheidis. Adalheidis was composed of the elements "adal," meaning noble, and "heid," meaning kind or sort. The name Alis was introduced into England after the Norman Conquest in the 11th century.
The earliest recorded use of the name Allyse dates back to the late 19th century, where it was likely an alternative spelling of the more traditional Alice. It gained popularity as a distinct name in the early 20th century, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.
One notable historical figure with the name Allyse was Allyse Matilda Gwyther (1858-1939), a British artist and illustrator known for her work in children's books and magazines. She was a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and exhibited her work in various galleries throughout her career.
Another prominent individual with the name Allyse was Allyse Jeanette Wainwright (1910-1997), an American actress and dancer who appeared in several Broadway productions and Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. She was known for her roles in musicals and her partnership with renowned choreographer Busby Berkeley.
In the literary world, Allyse Rae Stein (born 1954) is an American author and poet who has published several collections of poetry, including "Woven World" and "Waiting for the Bliss." Her work explores themes of spirituality, nature, and the human experience.
Allyse Michelle Ferguson (born 1985) is a Canadian former professional tennis player who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 27 in the world in 2010. She won two singles titles and seven doubles titles on the WTA Tour during her career.
Allyse Kathleen Shelton (born 1986) is an American professional golfer who has competed on the LPGA Tour since 2011. She won her first LPGA Tour event in 2021 at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.
While the name Allyse has its roots in the Old French and Germanic languages, it has evolved over time and gained recognition as a distinct name in various cultures and regions around the world.
People
Allyse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Allyse 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
Allyse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Allyse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 718 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Allyse 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 477,374 US residents.
Is Allyse a common name?
We classify Allyse as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 741 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Allyse most popular?
The single biggest year for Allyse was 1988, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Allyse is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Allyse in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 716 people with the name Allyse, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,916 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 Allyse 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 Allyse?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Allyse appears almost entirely female. Of the 713 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Allyse?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Allyse is White at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Black (13.1%) and Hispanic (9.8%). 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 Allyse most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Allyse in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.0% (494 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 Allyse in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Allyse a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Allyse 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 Allyse still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Allyse 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 Allyse 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 Allyse?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.