Alys
A feminine form of Alice, of French origin meaning "noble" or "exalted".
Name Census estimates that about 688 living Americans carry the first name Alys. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alys today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alys births was 1920 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alys. 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 Alys with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
688
~ 1 in 498,189 Americans
Peak year
1920
29 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,145
Tracked since 1880
Census
Alys in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 769 people with the first name Alys, which placed it at #15,074 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
#15,074
National first-name rank
People counted
769
769 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alys
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alys is White at 69.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.9%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Alys 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 Alys at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.8% · 537
- Hispanic or Latino18.9% · 145
- Black or African American4.6% · 35
- Two or more races3.6% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 8
Popularity
Alys: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alys 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 199 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Alys remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alys 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 Alys during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alys' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Florida, New York recorded the most babies named Alys, while Texas, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alys
The name Alys has its origins in the Old French and Old Germanic languages, tracing back to the medieval period around the 12th century. It is derived from the Germanic name Adalheidis, which was composed of the elements "adal" meaning "noble" and "heid" meaning "kind" or "sort". The name was later shortened and altered in various forms, including Alis, Alys, Alice, and Alicia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alys can be found in the 13th-century French epic poem "Roman de la Rose", where a character named Alys appears. The name gained popularity in England during the Middle Ages, particularly after the Norman Conquest in 1066, as French culture and names became more prevalent among the nobility.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Alys. One of the earliest was Alys de Munchensy (c. 1220-1285), an English noblewoman and heiress who was a prominent figure during the reign of King Henry III. Another early example is Alys de Gorges (c. 1300-1369), an English courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Philippa of Hainault.
In the 15th century, Alys Mercer (c. 1420-1498) was a influential English businesswoman and silk merchant who became one of the wealthiest women in London during her lifetime. Alys Forrester (c. 1430-1490) was a Scottish noblewoman and the wife of Sir John Forrester of Corstorphine.
During the 16th century, Alys Throckmorton (c. 1530-1570) was an English courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. She was known for her beauty and was rumored to have been a potential suitor for the unmarried queen.
While the name Alys has declined in popularity in recent times, it remains a part of the historical record, reflecting the cultural and linguistic influences that have shaped the English language and naming traditions over the centuries.
People
Alys + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alys 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
Alys: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alys?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 688 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alys 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 498,189 US residents.
Is Alys a common name?
We classify Alys as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,332 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alys most popular?
The single biggest year for Alys was 1920, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alys is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alys in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 769 people with the name Alys, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,074 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 Alys 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 Alys?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alys leans strongly female. 759 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 10 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Alys?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alys is White at 69.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.9%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Alys most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alys in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.8% (537 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 Alys in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alys a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alys 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 Alys still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alys 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 Alys 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 share the name Alys?
Want to know how many Americans are named Alys? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.