Head to head · Girls' names
Alaia vs Brooklyn
#117 vs #118 in 2025
Alaia is a whisker ahead (#117 vs #118 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Alaia is holding its place on the charts, Brooklyn is stepping back from its peak.
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
The tape is even: Alaia and Brooklyn each lead 3 measures of 6.
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
- 1970s: Alaia —, Brooklyn #4763 — Brooklyn higher
- 1980s: Alaia #9545, Brooklyn #1505 — Brooklyn higher
- 1990s: Alaia #11130, Brooklyn #427 — Brooklyn higher
- 2000s: Alaia #6339, Brooklyn #101 — Brooklyn higher
- 2010s: Alaia #1863, Brooklyn #34 — Brooklyn higher
- 2020s: Alaia #123, Brooklyn #83 — Brooklyn higher
Brooklyn stood higher in every recorded decade — 6 of 6.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Alaia | Brooklyn |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | — | #4763 |
| 1980s | #9545 | #1505 |
| 1990s | #11130 | #427 |
| 2000s | #6339 | #101 |
| 2010s | #1863 | #34 |
| 2020s | #123 | #83 |
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
Alaia
'joyful, cheerful' in Basque — though the American name has a second road behind it
The Basque reading is solid: alai means cheerful or merry, and Alaia is the standard feminine given-name form, one of many Basque names that came back into wide use in Spain in the late twentieth century. But many American Alaias were named within the Arabic-rooted Aaliyah / Alia group, where the sense is 'high, exalted'. Both are real; which one applies depends on the family. Separately, alaia is also the Hawaiian word for a traditional thin wooden surfboard — a true coincidence of sound rather than a source.
alai (Basque, 'cheerful') → Alaia
How it traveled
The clearest documented line runs through Basque, where alai means cheerful and Alaia serves as a woman's given name; such names spread widely across the Basque Country and the rest of Spain in the decades after Franco, when regional naming was freely used again. In the United States the name took a different route, entering alongside Aaliyah, Alaya, Aleah and their many spellings, so that Alaia landed on American birth records as much for its sound as for its Basque pedigree.
Brooklyn
From the New York borough, named for the Dutch village Breukelen — most often read as 'marshland' or 'broken land'
The Dutch place name is usually traced to 'broek', meaning marsh or wetland, joined to an element for a watercourse — roughly 'marsh stream'. A competing reading takes it as 'broken land', ground broken for cultivation. Both are serious; neither has won. What is not in doubt is the route: Dutch village to Dutch colonial settlement to American given name.
Breukelen → Breuckelen → Brooklyn
How it traveled
Breukelen is an old village in the Netherlands, on the river Vecht in the province of Utrecht, recorded in medieval Dutch documents long before anyone crossed an ocean. In 1646 settlers of New Netherland chartered a town of Breuckelen on Long Island, and English tongues wore the spelling down to Brooklyn.
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
Alaia
uh-LAY-uh
uh-LAY-uh is the usual American reading. Spanish and Basque speakers say it closer to ah-LAH-ee-ah, and some English speakers reach for ah-LIE-uh on first sight. All three are in real use, so a family generally picks one and repeats it.
- Lala — Home-and-family short form, common with vowel-heavy names; rarely used on paper.
- Lai — Clipped informal form taken from the stressed middle of the name.
- Ali — Informal, and also a standalone given name in its own right for both sexes.
- Aya — Informal short form; independently a full given name in Japanese and Arabic naming.
- Also Allie.
Brooklyn
BROOK-lin
Stress on the first syllable, with the 'oo' of 'book' rather than 'boot'. The spelling gives the sound away, so it travels well in English-speaking countries.
- Brooke — The most common short form, and a long-established given name in its own right.
- Brook — Same sound, simpler spelling; used on its own for both boys and girls.
- Brookie — Informal, mostly within families and among younger children.
- Lyn — Takes the back half instead of the front; also stands alone as a given name, chiefly among older generations.
- Also B.
Who has carried each name
Alaia
No documented entry for Alaia yet.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Decker (b. 1987) — Sports Illustrated model turned actress
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 Alaia if you want…
- a name on the way upup 3 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAlaia runs 3 syllables, Brooklyn 2
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 81% for Brooklyn
Choose Brooklyn if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsBrooklyn is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesBrooklyn is 2 syllables to Alaia's 3
- a name that feels very nowBrooklyn is stepping back from its peak
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
Alaia
Strengths
- Short, all-vowel structure with no silent letters or consonant clusters — most readers can attempt it aloud on sight, even if they choose the wrong stress.
- Works across languages: a real Basque given name, easy for Spanish speakers, and at home in the Arabic-rooted Aaliyah sound family.
- Has genuine short forms already in circulation — Lala, Lai, Ali, Aya — rather than needing one invented.
To consider
- The spelling competes with Alaya, Alayah, Alaia, Aliyah and Aaliyah, which sound similar or identical. Expect to spell it out often, and expect some paperwork to come back with a different version.
- Pronunciation is genuinely unsettled between uh-LAY-uh and ah-LIE-uh. Neither is wrong, which means correcting people is a lifelong small task rather than a one-time fix.
- The name's wave is very recent, so nearly everyone carrying it right now is a child. There is no adult generation of Alaias yet to make it feel ordinary on a résumé — that comes with time.
Brooklyn
Strengths
- Reads correctly on sight — almost no one hesitates over how to say it, in the US or abroad.
- Comes with ready-made short forms, Brooke and Lyn, both of which are established given names on their own.
- Shares its ending with a familiar family of names — Evelyn, Madelyn, Jocelyn — so it sits comfortably in a class list.
To consider
- The rival spellings are real: Brooklynn, Brooklin and Brookelyn all circulate, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often even though the standard form is the plain one.
- It names a very specific place, and people occasionally assume a family connection to New York. Outside the US it reads as distinctly American.
- Most Brooklyns alive today are children and teenagers, so the name carries a clear generational stamp — less a blank slate than a name of a particular moment.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Alaia
40%chance Alaia feels dated by 2040
Alaia sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Brooklyn
81%chance Brooklyn feels dated by 2040
Brooklyn is coming down from a big peak (#21 in 2011). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Alaia and Brooklyn 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 Alaia and Brooklyn?
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 than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Alaia and Brooklyn — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Alaia or Brooklyn — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Alaia or Brooklyn?
- Alaia, in 2025: Alaia ranked #117 with 2,318 babies; Brooklyn ranked #118 with 2,300 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Alaia or Brooklyn?
- Alaia. Over the last five years Alaia moved up 3 places; Brooklyn moved down 64 places.
- Which is the older name, Alaia or Brooklyn?
- Alaia entered the US charts in 1986; Brooklyn entered the US charts in 1972. On the American record, Brooklyn is the older name.
- How many people are named Alaia and Brooklyn?
- About 17,500 people named Alaia are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 124,000 people named Brooklyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alaias or Brooklyns in the classroom?
- Alaia will almost certainly be the only one in school. Brooklyn 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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