Head to head · Girls' names
Adaline vs Aitana
#208 vs #211 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Adaline is a whisker ahead (#208 vs #211 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Adaline leads 5 measures of 6; Aitana leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Adaline #495, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1890s: Adaline #657, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1900s: Adaline #760, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1910s: Adaline #830, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1920s: Adaline #1067, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1930s: Adaline #2068, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1940s: Adaline #3230, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1950s: Adaline #4231, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1960s: Adaline #4961, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1970s: Adaline #8060, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1980s: Adaline #8584, Aitana — — Adaline higher
- 1990s: Adaline #6949, Aitana #7563 — Adaline higher
- 2000s: Adaline #2963, Aitana #9768 — Adaline higher
- 2010s: Adaline #889, Aitana #3184 — Adaline higher
- 2020s: Adaline #236, Aitana #283 — Adaline higher
Adaline stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Adaline | Aitana |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #495 | — |
| 1890s | #657 | — |
| 1900s | #760 | — |
| 1910s | #830 | — |
| 1920s | #1067 | — |
| 1930s | #2068 | — |
| 1940s | #3230 | — |
| 1950s | #4231 | — |
| 1960s | #4961 | — |
| 1970s | #8060 | — |
| 1980s | #8584 | — |
| 1990s | #6949 | #7563 |
| 2000s | #2963 | #9768 |
| 2010s | #889 | #3184 |
| 2020s | #236 | #283 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Adaline
noble
The root is Germanic adal, "noble", the same element behind Adela, Adele and Adelina; Adaline and Adeline are Latinate diminutive forms of it.
Adal → Adela → Adelina → Adeline → Adaline
How it traveled
The story begins with the Germanic name element adal, "noble", which produced short names like Adela and Adala among the Frankish nobility. Latin writers extended these into Adelina, and Norman French carried Adeline into England after the Conquest, where it stayed in use through the medieval period.
Aitana
From the Sierra de Aitana, a mountain range in Alicante, Spain
That the name comes from the mountain is not in doubt. What the mountain's own name means is: scholars have proposed both pre-Roman and Arabic layers for it, and neither reading has won. A separate popular explanation links Aitana to Basque aita, 'father', but that connection is not established.
How it traveled
The name begins as geography — a limestone ridge in the province of Alicante, one of the highest points in the Valencian Community. Spanish parents took it up as a girl's name over the course of the twentieth century, and by the early 2000s it was widely used across Spain, Catalan- and Castilian-speaking regions alike.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Adaline
AD-uh-line
The most common American reading rhymes the last syllable with "line". Some families say AD-uh-lin, and the -leen ending belongs more to Adelina. Whichever you choose, expect to state it once when introducing her.
- Addie — The most-used short form for both Adaline and Adeline; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Ada — A complete given name with its own separate history, used here as a shortening.
- Lina — Takes the back half of the name; also an independent given name in several European languages.
- Addy — The same short form with a different spelling; common in informal writing.
- Also Dell.
Aitana
eye-TAH-nah
The Spanish ai is the vowel in 'eye'. English speakers often reach for 'ay-TAH-nah' instead, which is close enough that it usually passes, but the eye- opening is the Spanish one.
- Tana — The most natural English-language short form, taken from the stressed middle syllable; also exists as a name in its own right.
- Aitanita — The standard Spanish affectionate diminutive, formed with -ita; used within families rather than at school or work.
- Ita — A shorter household form heard in Spanish-speaking families, informal only.
Who has carried each name
Adaline
No documented entry for Adaline yet.
Aitana
Aitana Bonmatí (b. 1998) — Multiple Ballon d'Or-winning Spanish soccer star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Adaline if you want…
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Addie, Ada and Lina
- a long American recordAdaline was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Aitana if you want…
- a name on the way upup 154 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalAitana entered the US charts in 1995
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Adaline
Strengths
- Two ready-made short forms, Addie and Ada, both of which also work as full names on a document.
- The meaning is settled and simple: noble, from the Germanic root adal.
- Recognizable to most English speakers through the near-twin spelling Adeline, so it is never an unfamiliar shape.
To consider
- The A-versus-E problem is permanent. Adeline is the better-known spelling, and Adaline will be written back at her as Adeline, Adalyn or Adelyn for life. Nothing serious, but it means spelling it out often.
- The final syllable has no single agreed sound — AD-uh-line and AD-uh-lin both circulate — so people will guess, and sometimes guess differently.
- It is climbing, and quickly. A name that feels uncommon now may be considerably more familiar by the time she starts school; the Addie/Adalyn/Adeline cluster is busy overall.
Aitana
Strengths
- Spelled exactly as it sounds in Spanish, and one syllable at a time in English — most people get it on the second try.
- One spelling, no rival variants competing for it, in both Spanish and English use.
- Three even syllables ending in -a, which sits comfortably beside both short and long surnames.
To consider
- Outside Spanish-speaking communities it is still unfamiliar enough that she will spell it aloud fairly often, and hear 'ay' where 'eye' belongs.
- It sits close to Ayana, Aiyana and Atiana in sound, so mishearings are more likely than misspellings.
- The American wave is very new, so nearly everyone with this name here is a small child — it will read as a young name for another generation or two, then simply as a name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Adaline and Aitana in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Adaline and Aitana?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Seven-letter names, ranked by real use
- Names ending in -ine / -een
- Names ending in -ana
- Names ending in -na
- all guides
Where Adaline and Aitana each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Adaline or Aitana — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Adaline or Aitana?
- Adaline, in 2025: Adaline ranked #208 with 1,446 babies; Aitana ranked #211 with 1,435 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Adaline or Aitana?
- Aitana. Over the last five years Adaline moved up 79 places; Aitana moved up 154 places.
- Which is the older name, Adaline or Aitana?
- Adaline was already in use when US records began in 1880; Aitana entered the US charts in 1995. On the American record, Adaline is the older name.
- How many people are named Adaline and Aitana?
- About 17,000 people named Adaline are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 9,800 people named Aitana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Adalines or Aitanas in the classroom?
- Adaline will almost certainly be the only one in school. Aitana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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