Head to head · Girls' names
Alina vs Amira
#130 vs #132 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Alina is a whisker ahead (#130 vs #132 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, Alina leads 5 measures of 6; Amira 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
- 1890s: Alina #1525, Amira — — Alina higher
- 1910s: Alina #3802, Amira — — Alina higher
- 1920s: Alina #4200, Amira — — Alina higher
- 1930s: Alina #3450, Amira — — Alina higher
- 1940s: Alina #3981, Amira — — Alina higher
- 1950s: Alina #3434, Amira — — Alina higher
- 1960s: Alina #1756, Amira #6220 — Alina higher
- 1970s: Alina #1060, Amira #3041 — Alina higher
- 1980s: Alina #897, Amira #1932 — Alina higher
- 1990s: Alina #563, Amira #1195 — Alina higher
- 2000s: Alina #361, Amira #636 — Alina higher
- 2010s: Alina #210, Amira #404 — Alina higher
- 2020s: Alina #142, Amira #185 — Alina higher
Alina stood higher in every recorded decade — 13 of 13.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Alina | Amira |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1525 | — |
| 1910s | #3802 | — |
| 1920s | #4200 | — |
| 1930s | #3450 | — |
| 1940s | #3981 | — |
| 1950s | #3434 | — |
| 1960s | #1756 | #6220 |
| 1970s | #1060 | #3041 |
| 1980s | #897 | #1932 |
| 1990s | #563 | #1195 |
| 2000s | #361 | #636 |
| 2010s | #210 | #404 |
| 2020s | #142 | #185 |
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
Alina
Either "noble" or "light", depending on which root you follow
Two serious lines converge on the same spelling. One takes Alina as a shortened form of Adelina, from the Germanic element adal, "noble" — the route it traveled in Italian and German. The other treats it as a Slavic form built on Alena, itself a short form of Yelena (Helena), which carries the sense of light or a torch. Alina is also used across the Arabic- and Persian-speaking world, where it is read separately from either European line.
Adalheid → Adelina → Alina
How it traveled
The Germanic route arrives through Adelina, a diminutive of names beginning with adal, "noble", which spread through medieval Italy, France and the German-speaking lands and shed its first syllable in ordinary speech. The Slavic route runs through Alena, a household form of Yelena, the Eastern Slavic Helena — which is why Alina has been at home in Poland, Ukraine and Russia for generations without anyone treating it as borrowed.
Amira
"Princess" in Arabic; "treetop" or "utterance" in Hebrew
Two separate names share this spelling. The Arabic أميرة is the feminine of amīr, "prince, commander" — the same root that gives English emir and the name of the United Arab Emirates. The Hebrew אֲמִירָה comes from a root meaning both the topmost bough of a tree and the act of saying something. Neither reading is a variant of the other; which one applies depends on the family.
amīr (Arabic, "commander, prince") → amīra → Amira / Ameera / Amirah
How it traveled
The Arabic line is the older and wider one: from the root ʼ-m-r, "to command," comes amīr, the title borne by commanders and princes across the medieval Islamic world, and from it the feminine amīra. The word traveled into European languages as emir long before the name did, so English speakers already knew the sound in another shape.
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
Alina
ah-LEE-nah
Stress on the middle syllable in every language that uses it. Some American speakers reach for uh-LY-nah on first sight, so expect to correct that occasionally; the ah-LEE-nah version is the standard one worldwide.
- Lina — The most widespread short form across languages, and a given name in its own right in Germany, Italy and the Arabic-speaking world.
- Ali — Informal English short form; shared with Alison, Alexandra and Alicia, so it rarely points back to one name.
- Alinka — Affectionate diminutive used in Polish and Russian families, informal only.
- Lin — A clipped everyday form, mostly within families rather than in introductions.
Amira
uh-MEER-uh
Stress on the middle syllable. Arabic and Bosnian speakers often say it closer to ah-MEE-rah, with a fuller first and final vowel; both are the same name, and English speakers usually manage it on the first hearing.
- Mira — The most common short form, and a full given name in its own right in several languages.
- Mimi — Informal, family-side; rarely used outside the household.
- Ami — Informal; spelled Ami or Amy depending on the family's preference.
- Ria — Informal short form taken from the ending; also stands alone as a name in Dutch and Indonesian.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Alina if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Alina from Amira.
Choose Amira if you want…
- a name on the way upup 151 places on the charts in five years
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
Alina
Strengths
- Works unchanged in Polish, Romanian, Russian, Italian and Arabic-speaking settings — one of the few names that needs no local adaptation.
- Spelled the way it sounds once heard, with no silent letters or doubled consonants to explain.
- Comes with Lina already established as a short form in several languages, alongside informal Ali.
To consider
- It sits in a crowded field of near-identical spellings — Alaina, Aleena, Alena, Elena — so "Alina, A-L-I-N-A" will become a reflex, and mail will occasionally arrive addressed to one of the others.
- The first-sight reading uh-LY-nah is common enough among English speakers that a child will do some gentle correcting, particularly with substitute teachers and receptionists.
- The trend line is moving upward rather than settling, so a name that currently stands out in a classroom may be noticeably more familiar by the time she is in high school.
Amira
Strengths
- Works in Arabic, Bosnian, Hebrew and English without translation or reshaping — one spelling that travels across several languages.
- Reads correctly from the page for most English speakers on first sight, with no silent letters and no ambiguous consonants.
- Has ready-made short forms: Mira for everyday use, Mimi and Ami within the family.
To consider
- Ameera, Amirah and Amyra all circulate, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often. Picking one form early and sticking to it saves the most trouble.
- It is on a clear upward path in the US, so a child born now will likely meet more Amiras as a teenager than as a toddler.
- The sound sits close to Amara, Almira, Samira and Mira, and mix-ups among those are the usual small annoyance rather than anything worse.
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 Alina and Amira 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 Alina and Amira?
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
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- About to go mainstream: next year's top-100
- The sweet spot: familiar but not everywhere
- Five-letter names, the comfortable middle
- all guides
Every list here names both Alina and Amira — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Alina or Amira — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Alina or Amira?
- Alina, in 2025: Alina ranked #130 with 2,204 babies; Amira ranked #132 with 2,168 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Alina or Amira?
- Amira. Over the last five years Alina moved up 40 places; Amira moved up 151 places.
- Which is the older name, Alina or Amira?
- Alina entered the US charts in 1892; Amira entered the US charts in 1963. On the American record, Alina is the older name.
- How many people are named Alina and Amira?
- About 45,000 people named Alina are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 25,500 people named Amira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alinas or Amiras in the classroom?
- Alina will almost certainly be the only one in school. Amira 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
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Alina, Amira and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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