Head to head · Girls' names
Alice vs Paisley
#65 vs #67 in 2025
Alice is a whisker ahead (#65 vs #67 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Alice is holding its place on the charts, Paisley 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, Alice leads 6 measures of 6; Paisley 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: Alice #11, Paisley — — Alice higher
- 1890s: Alice #14, Paisley — — Alice higher
- 1900s: Alice #11, Paisley — — Alice higher
- 1910s: Alice #12, Paisley — — Alice higher
- 1920s: Alice #16, Paisley — — Alice higher
- 1930s: Alice #25, Paisley — — Alice higher
- 1940s: Alice #42, Paisley — — Alice higher
- 1950s: Alice #86, Paisley — — Alice higher
- 1960s: Alice #150, Paisley #6117 — Alice higher
- 1970s: Alice #241, Paisley #6806 — Alice higher
- 1980s: Alice #328, Paisley #5366 — Alice higher
- 1990s: Alice #404, Paisley #2166 — Alice higher
- 2000s: Alice #387, Paisley #1169 — Alice higher
- 2010s: Alice #102, Paisley #91 — Paisley higher
- 2020s: Alice #67, Paisley #56 — Paisley higher
Alice stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Paisley has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Alice | Paisley |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #11 | — |
| 1890s | #14 | — |
| 1900s | #11 | — |
| 1910s | #12 | — |
| 1920s | #16 | — |
| 1930s | #25 | — |
| 1940s | #42 | — |
| 1950s | #86 | — |
| 1960s | #150 | #6117 |
| 1970s | #241 | #6806 |
| 1980s | #328 | #5366 |
| 1990s | #404 | #2166 |
| 2000s | #387 | #1169 |
| 2010s | #102 | #91 |
| 2020s | #67 | #56 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Alice
- France#10
- Canada#12
- England & Wales#49
- Scotland#52
Paisley
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Alice
of a noble kind
Both Germanic elements are well attested and the chain of forms from the compound to the modern name is documented at every stage. What is gone is any way of seeing that from the name as it now stands.
Adalheidis → Adelais → Aalis → Alice
How it traveled
One woman carrying it changed what a short story could be asked to do. She wrote almost nothing but stories across a working life of half a century, set nearly all of them in small towns in southwestern Ontario, and built them so that a paragraph could contain forty years and a marriage could turn on a sentence somebody almost said.
Paisley
Most likely 'church' — from a Brittonic word drawn from Latin basilica
The place appears in twelfth-century records as Passeleth. The leading reading traces it to a Brittonic *passeleg, borrowed from Latin basilica, 'major church' — fitting for a settlement that grew around an abbey. A competing proposal reads it as Old English elements meaning something like 'pasture clearing'. Neither has fully won out, and as a given name Paisley carries the town and the fabric far more than any etymology.
Passeleth → Paisley (Renfrewshire place name) → Paisley (Scottish surname) → Paisley (given name)
How it traveled
The name is Scottish and geographical before it is anything else: a burgh west of Glasgow, home to a Cluniac priory founded in the 1160s that later became Paisley Abbey. From the place came a habitational surname, carried by families who left Scotland for North America and Ulster.
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
Alice
AL-iss
Two syllables with the stress at the front. French says it in two as well, with the weight at the back, which English speakers rarely attempt.
- Ali — The front alone; short, current and completely unisex.
- Elsie — Reached by sound from the ending; a standing name in its own right.
- Allie — An affectionate ending; warm and firmly informal.
Paisley
PAYZ-lee
Stress on the first syllable. The s is voiced, as in the fabric — PAYZ, not PAYSS — and this is settled in both American and Scottish usage.
- Pais — The most common informal clip, usually spelled Pais or Paise and pronounced PAYZ; strictly a household nickname, not used on its own.
- Paisy — An affectionate diminutive within families; also seen as Paizy. No standing as an independent given name.
- Lee — Drawn from the second syllable. Stands alone as a given name and surname in its own right, so it reads as a separate name rather than a short form.
Who has carried each name
Alice
Alice Munro (b. 1931) — Nobel laureate, master of the short story
Alice Walker (b. 1944) — The Color Purple author, first Black woman to win the fiction Pulitzer
Alice Paul (b. 1885) — Suffragist who wrote the Equal Rights Amendment
Paisley
No documented entry for Paisley 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 Alice if you want…
- a name on the way upup 11 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooAlice is on the national lists of France, Canada, England & Wales and Scotland
- a long American recordAlice was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 76% for Paisley
Choose Paisley if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsPaisley is stepping back from its peak
- a newer arrivalPaisley entered the US charts in 1966
- a name that feels very nowPaisley 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
Alice
Strengths
- It is recognized across Europe with almost no change of spelling.
- It has been in continuous use since the medieval period without interruption.
- The spelling is short, unambiguous and never needs repeating.
To consider
- It is currently fashionable again, so a child may not be the only one.
- The meaning is entirely invisible without explanation.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
Paisley
Strengths
- The spelling is backed by a dictionary word and a real Scottish town, so most people can write it after hearing it once.
- Two syllables, first-syllable stress, no sounds that trouble English speakers of any age.
- A documented record stretching back to twelfth-century Scottish charters, unusually long for a name this new to American nurseries.
To consider
- The fabric association is immediate and permanent. Many people will picture a shawl or a necktie before they think of a person.
- Rival spellings — Paisleigh, Paislee, Paizley — are in circulation, so she may be asked which one she is even though hers is the standard form.
- The name's wave is very recent and still cresting downward, which means nearly every Paisley she meets will be roughly her own age.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Alice
12%chance Alice feels dated by 2040
Alice has held the top-100 across 9 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Paisley
76%chance Paisley feels dated by 2040
Paisley is coming down from a big peak (#45 in 2015). 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 Alice and Paisley 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 Alice and Paisley?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Alice and Paisley — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Alice or Paisley — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Alice or Paisley?
- Alice, in 2025: Alice ranked #65 with 3,547 babies; Paisley ranked #67 with 3,508 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Alice or Paisley?
- Alice. Over the last five years Alice moved up 11 places; Paisley moved down 18 places.
- Which is the older name, Alice or Paisley?
- Alice was already in use when US records began in 1880; Paisley entered the US charts in 1966. On the American record, Alice is the older name.
- How many people are named Alice and Paisley?
- About 220,000 people named Alice are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 65,000 people named Paisley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alices or Paisleys in the classroom?
- Alice will almost certainly be the only one in school. Paisley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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