Head to head · Girls' names
Alanna vs Shiloh
#280 vs #281 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Alanna is a whisker ahead (#280 vs #281 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, Alanna leads 5 measures of 6; Shiloh 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
- 1930s: Alanna #3142, Shiloh — — Alanna higher
- 1940s: Alanna #2266, Shiloh — — Alanna higher
- 1950s: Alanna #1631, Shiloh — — Alanna higher
- 1960s: Alanna #1675, Shiloh #7471 — Alanna higher
- 1970s: Alanna #937, Shiloh #1691 — Alanna higher
- 1980s: Alanna #638, Shiloh #1857 — Alanna higher
- 1990s: Alanna #493, Shiloh #1785 — Alanna higher
- 2000s: Alanna #483, Shiloh #1509 — Alanna higher
- 2010s: Alanna #524, Shiloh #591 — Alanna higher
- 2020s: Alanna #452, Shiloh #338 — Shiloh higher
Alanna stood higher in 9 of 10 decades; Shiloh took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Alanna | Shiloh |
|---|---|---|
| 1930s | #3142 | — |
| 1940s | #2266 | — |
| 1950s | #1631 | — |
| 1960s | #1675 | #7471 |
| 1970s | #937 | #1691 |
| 1980s | #638 | #1857 |
| 1990s | #493 | #1785 |
| 2000s | #483 | #1509 |
| 2010s | #524 | #591 |
| 2020s | #452 | #338 |
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
Alanna
Most often read as a feminine form of Alan; also tied to the Irish English endearment alannah, "O child"
Two serious readings compete. The first treats Alanna as a feminine form of Alan, an Old Breton name whose own meaning has never been settled — "rock" and "deer" have both been proposed, neither proven. The second connects it to alannah, an Anglo-Irish term of endearment recorded in dictionaries and drawn from Irish a leanbh, "O child". A third reading links it to Irish álainn, "beautiful". None of the three has pushed the others out.
Alan (Old Breton) → Alan (Norman and Middle English) → Alana → Alanna
How it traveled
Alan arrived in England from Brittany in the eleventh century and settled in so thoroughly that it became an English name outright, then a surname, then a name again. The feminine forms — Alana, Alanna, Alannah — are much younger, products of the twentieth century's habit of building girls' names from established boys' ones.
Shiloh
a place name, often read as "tranquil" or "place of rest"
The common reading links Shiloh to the Hebrew root shalah, "to be quiet, at ease," giving a sense of rest or tranquility. Hebraists also treat it as an old place name whose origin is simply not recoverable. A separate puzzle sits in Genesis 49:10, "until Shiloh comes," a line read by some traditions as naming the town and by others as a title — that ambiguity is centuries old and has never been resolved.
שִׁילֹה (Shiloh, Hebrew place name) → Σηλώ (Sēlō, Greek Septuagint) → Silo (Latin Vulgate) → Shiloh (English)
How it traveled
In the Hebrew Bible, Shiloh is the sanctuary town in the hill country of Ephraim where the Tabernacle stood and the Ark of the Covenant rested before it moved to Jerusalem; archaeologists place it at Khirbet Seilun, north of Jerusalem. Greek translators rendered it Sēlō and the Latin Vulgate Silo, so the name entered European Bibles as geography rather than as a given name.
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
Alanna
uh-LAN-uh
Two pronunciations are both in real use: uh-LAN-uh with the vowel of "can", and uh-LAH-nuh with the vowel of "father". Neither is wrong, so it is worth deciding which one you want said and saying it first.
- Lana — The most common short form, and a well-established given name in its own right.
- Ally — Informal, often school-age; also spelled Alli or Allie.
- Annie — Informal and affectionate; stands alone as a given name too.
- Lanie — Informal family use, sometimes spelled Laney.
- Also Ana.
Shiloh
SHY-loh
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spelling points clearly to this pronunciation for most English speakers. A closer-to-Hebrew shee-LOH is heard occasionally, so it is worth saying aloud which one you mean when you introduce the name.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Alanna if you want…
- a name on the way upup 281 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAlanna runs 3 syllables, Shiloh 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Lana, Ally and Annie
Choose Shiloh if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesShiloh is 2 syllables to Alanna's 3
- a name that stays wholeno recorded short form for Shiloh
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
Alanna
Strengths
- Built on Alan, a name English speakers have known for nearly a thousand years, so the spelling reads correctly on sight even to people who have never met an Alanna.
- Ready-made short forms already in circulation: Lana, Ally, Annie.
- In continuous American use across many generations, and currently moving up rather than drifting out of fashion.
To consider
- It sits in a crowded cluster — Alana, Alannah, Alanah, Alaina — that all sound close to identical. Expect a lifetime of spelling it out, and expect forms and rosters to guess wrong now and then.
- The two accepted pronunciations, uh-LAN-uh and uh-LAH-nuh, mean she will occasionally correct people, or decide not to bother.
- The meaning is genuinely unsettled. If you want one clean line to give relatives, this name will not supply it — though it will supply three interesting ones.
Shiloh
Strengths
- The spelling is already familiar from the Bible and from American maps, so most people read it correctly at first sight.
- One name, one pronunciation: SHY-loh follows straight from the letters.
- Used in near-equal measure for boys and girls, so it needs no adjustment either way.
To consider
- The boy–girl split is close to even, which means strangers reading the name on a form genuinely cannot tell, and will sometimes guess wrong. Neither side is the minority, but neither is the default either.
- Shiloh in American ears also means the 1862 battle, one of the bloodiest of the Civil War. Some people will mention it; the association is historical rather than unpleasant, and it fades with the generations.
- Nicknames are not obvious. Shy and Lo both get used, and Shy carries a meaning of its own in English that some children would rather not answer to.
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 Alanna and Shiloh 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 Alanna and Shiloh?
Put both to the vote.
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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
Where Alanna and Shiloh each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Alanna or Shiloh — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Alanna or Shiloh?
- Alanna, in 2025: Alanna ranked #280 with 1,099 babies; Shiloh ranked #281 with 1,098 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Alanna or Shiloh?
- Alanna. Over the last five years Alanna moved up 281 places; Shiloh moved up 171 places.
- Which is the older name, Alanna or Shiloh?
- Alanna entered the US charts in 1930; Shiloh entered the US charts in 1969. On the American record, Alanna is the older name.
- How many people are named Alanna and Shiloh?
- About 26,500 people named Alanna are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 15,000 people named Shiloh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alannas or Shilohs in the classroom?
- Alanna will almost certainly be the only one in school. Shiloh 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
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