Head to head · Boys' names
Alan vs Chase
#191 vs #192 in 2025
Alan is a whisker ahead (#191 vs #192 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Alan is holding its place on the charts, Chase 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
On the charts, Alan leads 6 measures of 6; Chase leads 0.
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: Alan #790, Chase #936 — Alan higher
- 1890s: Alan #539, Chase #994 — Alan higher
- 1900s: Alan #401, Chase — — Alan higher
- 1910s: Alan #333, Chase #2829 — Alan higher
- 1920s: Alan #208, Chase #3441 — Alan higher
- 1930s: Alan #114, Chase #3398 — Alan higher
- 1940s: Alan #61, Chase #2806 — Alan higher
- 1950s: Alan #44, Chase #2681 — Alan higher
- 1960s: Alan #59, Chase #1812 — Alan higher
- 1970s: Alan #113, Chase #805 — Alan higher
- 1980s: Alan #110, Chase #245 — Alan higher
- 1990s: Alan #144, Chase #96 — Chase higher
- 2000s: Alan #138, Chase #78 — Chase higher
- 2010s: Alan #165, Chase #86 — Chase higher
- 2020s: Alan #184, Chase #151 — Chase higher
Alan stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Chase has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Alan | Chase |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #790 | #936 |
| 1890s | #539 | #994 |
| 1900s | #401 | — |
| 1910s | #333 | #2829 |
| 1920s | #208 | #3441 |
| 1930s | #114 | #3398 |
| 1940s | #61 | #2806 |
| 1950s | #44 | #2681 |
| 1960s | #59 | #1812 |
| 1970s | #113 | #805 |
| 1980s | #110 | #245 |
| 1990s | #144 | #96 |
| 2000s | #138 | #78 |
| 2010s | #165 | #86 |
| 2020s | #184 | #151 |
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
Alan
Not established
Every proposed origin has a problem. A Breton word for a rock, a Celtic one for a deer, a tribal name from the steppe, an Irish word about harmony — all have been argued and none can be shown. What is certain is the route: Breton followers of the Conqueror brought the name into England in the eleventh century, and it spread from their estates in the north. That is unusual in itself. Almost every other common English name arrived from Hebrew, Greek, Latin or Germanic sources, and this one came in sideways.
a Breton name of unrecovered meaning → brought to England after the Conquest → a Breton follower of the Conqueror builds the largest estate in England → steady English and Scottish use for eight centuries → an American peak in the middle of the last century
How it traveled
Alan Turing wrote a paper in the 1930s about an imaginary machine — a tape, a reading head, a table of rules — in order to settle an abstract question about mathematical proof. The machine was never meant to be built.
Chase
hunt, or hunting ground
From Old French chacier, 'to hunt', which gave Middle English chace — both the pursuit and the enclosed land set aside for it. As a surname it marked a huntsman.
chacier (Old French) → chace (Middle English) → Chase (English surname) → Chase (given name)
How it traveled
The root is Old French chacier, 'to hunt', carried into England after the Norman Conquest and worn down into Middle English chace. In medieval England a chase was also a place: unfenced hunting land held by a lord, a word still sitting in English place names like Cannock Chase and Chevy Chase, the latter familiar from the fifteenth-century border ballad.
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
Alan
AL-un
Two syllables, stress at the front, first vowel as in pal. Scottish and Irish speakers often give the second syllable more weight than English ones do.
- Al — The universal short form, shared with half a dozen other names and none the worse for it.
- Lan — Takes the back half; rare in English and ordinary in several other languages.
Chase
CHAYSS
One syllable, ending in a clean s sound rather than a z. Spelling and sound match, in English and for most English-speaking countries.
- Chasey — Informal, mostly used within families and by close friends; rarely written down.
- Chay — Occasional spoken clipping; not established as a standalone given name in the US.
Who has carried each name
Alan
Alan Turing (b. 1912) — Broke the Enigma code and founded computer science
Alan Rickman (b. 1946) — Harry Potter's Snape
Alan Shepard (b. 1923) — First American in space — later hit a golf ball on the Moon
Chase
No documented entry for Chase yet.
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 Alan if you want…
- a name on the way upup 3 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAlan runs 2 syllables, Chase 1
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 25% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 73% for Chase
Choose Chase if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsChase is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesChase is 1 syllable to Alan's 2
- a name that feels very nowChase 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
Alan
Strengths
- It has been in continuous use for nine hundred years without ever becoming a costume.
- Two letters, one syllable and no possible mispronunciation once the spelling is settled.
- It carries serious namesakes in mathematics, in acting and in spaceflight, and none of them owns it.
To consider
- Allen and Allan are both common and the spelling will need saying every time.
- It is a name of the middle of the last century in America and reads as a father's or a grandfather's.
- There is no meaning to give a child, and the ones offered in name books are guesses.
Chase
Strengths
- One syllable, spelled exactly as it sounds — almost never misspelled or mispronounced by an English speaker.
- A documented English surname with a traceable line back to Old French, so the history is real rather than guessed.
- Reads clearly as a given name in the US while still working like a surname, which pairs easily with most last names.
To consider
- It is also an everyday English verb, so the name will meet puns and playground jokes — cut to the chase, chasing after. Most bearers grow used to it early.
- In the US the word is bound up with one of the country's largest banks, which means the name shares its spelling with a brand seen on nearly every high street.
- There is little to shorten. Chase is already as short as it gets, so a child who wants a nickname will have to invent one.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Alan
25%chance Alan feels dated by 2040
Alan peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
Chase
73%chance Chase feels dated by 2040
Chase is coming down from a big peak (#61 in 2009). 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 Alan and Chase 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 Alan and Chase?
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 these names appear on
- Short and sweet: names of four letters or fewer
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- The steadiest names in America
- Midcentury modern: tomorrow's comeback bets
- all guides
Where Alan and Chase each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Alan or Chase — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Alan or Chase?
- Alan, in 2025: Alan ranked #191 with 1,915 babies; Chase ranked #192 with 1,904 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Alan or Chase?
- Alan. Over the last five years Alan moved up 3 places; Chase moved down 69 places.
- Which is the older name, Alan or Chase?
- Alan entered the US charts in 1882; Chase entered the US charts in 1885. On the American record, Alan is the older name.
- How many people are named Alan and Chase?
- About 277,000 people named Alan are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 178,000 people named Chase are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alans or Chases in the classroom?
- Alan will almost certainly be the only one in school. Chase 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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