Head to head · Girls' names
Allie vs Amaia
#569 vs #554 in 2025
Amaia is a whisker ahead (#554 vs #569 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Amaia is holding its place on the charts, Allie 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: Allie and Amaia 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
- 1880s: Allie #143, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1890s: Allie #171, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1900s: Allie #193, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1910s: Allie #278, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1920s: Allie #356, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1930s: Allie #476, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1940s: Allie #792, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1950s: Allie #1403, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1960s: Allie #2681, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1970s: Allie #2635, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1980s: Allie #1509, Amaia — — Allie higher
- 1990s: Allie #458, Amaia #8488 — Allie higher
- 2000s: Allie #295, Amaia #2576 — Allie higher
- 2010s: Allie #267, Amaia #1576 — Allie higher
- 2020s: Allie #489, Amaia #603 — Allie higher
Allie stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Allie | Amaia |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #143 | — |
| 1890s | #171 | — |
| 1900s | #193 | — |
| 1910s | #278 | — |
| 1920s | #356 | — |
| 1930s | #476 | — |
| 1940s | #792 | — |
| 1950s | #1403 | — |
| 1960s | #2681 | — |
| 1970s | #2635 | — |
| 1980s | #1509 | — |
| 1990s | #458 | #8488 |
| 2000s | #295 | #2576 |
| 2010s | #267 | #1576 |
| 2020s | #489 | #603 |
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
Allie
depends on the longer name behind it
As a pet form, Allie inherits its meaning from whichever name it stands for. Through Alice — the largest road — it goes back to Germanic Adalheidis, 'noble kind, noble sort'. Through Alison, a medieval Norman diminutive of that same Alice. Through Alexandra, Greek for 'defender of people'. Through Alberta, 'bright nobility'. Used alone, it carries all of these and settles on none.
Adalheidis → Adelheid → Aalis / Alice → Alison → Allie
How it traveled
Alice arrived in England with the Normans as Aalis, a worn-down form of the Germanic name Adalheidis, and it became one of the steadiest women's names in the language. Medieval English and French speakers shortened and re-suffixed it constantly, producing Alison, Alys, Alie and eventually the -ie spelling familiar today.
Amaia
In Basque, "the end"; also read as the Castilian place name Amaya
Two serious readings compete. The Basque word amaia means "end" or "conclusion", and that is the reading most Basque name lists give. The other traces the name to Peña Amaya in the province of Burgos, an ancient hilltop stronghold whose name is older than Spanish and not itself translated. Neither reading has pushed the other out.
Amaya (Peña Amaya, Castile) → Amaya (heroine of Navarro Villoslada's 1879 novel) → Amaia (Basque spelling)
How it traveled
The name owes its modern life to a book: Francisco Navarro Villoslada's historical novel "Amaya, o los vascos en el siglo VIII", published in 1879, whose heroine gave Spanish and Basque families a name they had not been using. Through the twentieth century it spread across the Basque Country and the rest of Spain, where the Castilian spelling Amaya and the Basque spelling Amaia have run side by side ever since.
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
Allie
AL-ee
First syllable as in 'alley', stress on the front. It is not pronounced ah-LEE; that is the separate Arabic name Ali.
- Al — The only real further shortening; informal, used in families and among friends, and also a standalone short form for men named Albert or Alan.
- Ally — Not so much a nickname as the other common spelling of the same sound; some Allies are written both ways by different people.
- Allie-Bear / Allie-Cat — Household rhyming extensions, entirely informal and outgrown early.
Amaia
ah-MY-ah
In Basque and Spanish it is three syllables, ah-MAH-ya, with the stress in the middle and every vowel sounded. American speakers most often say ah-MY-ah, and ah-MAY-ah turns up too. All three are in real use, so it helps to decide which one you want and say it first.
- Maia — The most natural short form in English, and a well-established given name in its own right.
- Ama — Family-level, informal; also an independent given name in parts of West Africa.
- Mai — Informal and clipped; stands alone as a given name in Japanese and Vietnamese.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Allie if you want…
- a name fewer children share#569 in 2025 — allie will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name past its most crowded yearsAllie is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesAllie is 2 syllables to Amaia's 3
- a long American recordAllie was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Amaia if you want…
- a name most people already know#554 in 2025, 547 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 11 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAmaia runs 3 syllables, Allie 2
- a newer arrivalAmaia entered the US charts in 1993
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
Allie
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly on sight by nearly everyone in English.
- Works as the everyday form of Alice, Alison, Alexandra or Alberta, so a longer legal name remains an option without changing what she's called.
- On record as a given name in its own right for well over a century, never fashionable enough to date sharply to one decade.
To consider
- Ally, Alie and Alli are all in circulation for the same sound, so expect to spell it out fairly often — and to be spelled the other way by people who mean well.
- It is written the same as the ordinary word 'ally', and sounds close to 'alley'. In practice this rarely causes trouble, but it is there.
- Some parents feel a pet form used alone stays informal on a résumé or a diploma; registering Alice or Alison and calling her Allie is the traditional way around that, and plenty of families skip it happily.
Amaia
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds once heard: five letters, no silent letters, no doubled consonants.
- The Amaya spelling is already known in the US, so people can place the name even when they meet this version for the first time.
- Works without translation in Basque, Spanish and English, and sits easily alongside Maya, Amara and Amelia.
To consider
- Amaya is the more widely recognized spelling in the US, so Amaia will be respelled with a y fairly often — a lifelong small correction rather than a real obstacle.
- Pronunciation genuinely varies: ah-MY-ah, ah-MAH-ya and ah-MAY-ah are all heard. Families who want the Basque three-syllable version usually end up saying so on the first introduction.
- The Basque reading, "the end", strikes some people as an odd thing to name a child. It is worth knowing before a relative looks it up, and the place-name reading is equally defensible.
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 Allie and Amaia 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 Allie and Amaia?
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.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
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 Allie and Amaia each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Allie or Amaia — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Allie or Amaia?
- Amaia, in 2025: Amaia ranked #554 with 547 babies; Allie ranked #569 with 529 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Allie or Amaia?
- Amaia. Over the last five years Allie moved down 140 places; Amaia moved up 11 places.
- Which is the older name, Allie or Amaia?
- Allie was already in use when US records began in 1880; Amaia entered the US charts in 1993. On the American record, Allie is the older name.
- How many people are named Allie and Amaia?
- About 37,500 people named Allie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 5,500 people named Amaia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Allies or Amaias in the classroom?
- Allie will almost certainly be the only one in school. Amaia 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 Allie, Amaia and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap