Head to head · Girls' names
Allison vs Athena
#103 vs #109 in 2025
Allison is a whisker ahead (#103 vs #109 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Allison is stepping back from its peak, Athena is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Athena has the edge.
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, Allison leads 4 measures of 6; Athena 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
- 1900s: Allison #1862, Athena #1826 — Athena higher
- 1910s: Allison #1966, Athena #1536 — Athena higher
- 1920s: Allison #1862, Athena #1202 — Athena higher
- 1930s: Allison #1618, Athena #1658 — Allison higher
- 1940s: Allison #1123, Athena #2015 — Allison higher
- 1950s: Allison #471, Athena #1415 — Allison higher
- 1960s: Allison #211, Athena #835 — Allison higher
- 1970s: Allison #94, Athena #638 — Allison higher
- 1980s: Allison #51, Athena #643 — Allison higher
- 1990s: Allison #41, Athena #703 — Allison higher
- 2000s: Allison #42, Athena #483 — Allison higher
- 2010s: Allison #49, Athena #198 — Allison higher
- 2020s: Allison #94, Athena #93 — Athena higher
Allison stood higher in 9 of 13 decades; Athena took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Allison | Athena |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | #1862 | #1826 |
| 1910s | #1966 | #1536 |
| 1920s | #1862 | #1202 |
| 1930s | #1618 | #1658 |
| 1940s | #1123 | #2015 |
| 1950s | #471 | #1415 |
| 1960s | #211 | #835 |
| 1970s | #94 | #638 |
| 1980s | #51 | #643 |
| 1990s | #41 | #703 |
| 2000s | #42 | #483 |
| 2010s | #49 | #198 |
| 2020s | #94 | #93 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Allison
Not charting outside the US.
Athena
- Canada#82
- England & Wales#96
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Allison
noble kind, from Alice
Alison began as a diminutive of Alice, which descends from the Germanic Adalheidis: adal 'noble' plus heid 'kind, sort'. Allison is the same name, respelled through the surname.
Adalheidis → Adelais → Alice → Alisoun → Allison
How it traveled
The root is the Germanic Adalheidis, which came into Old French as Adelais and then wore down to Alis or Alice. Norman French added the affectionate ending -on, and Alisoun arrived in England after the Conquest as a name for ordinary women — Chaucer used it for the carpenter's wife in the Miller's Tale and for the Wife of Bath.
Athena
Not established
The name is older than Greek etymology can reach. It appears in Mycenaean Linear B tablets from Knossos as a-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ja, and scholars have never settled whether the goddess was named for the city of Athens or the city for the goddess — most now treat both as pre-Greek, from a language spoken in the region before Greek arrived. Plato's dialogue Cratylus offers an ancient guess, reading it as 'divine mind', but that is Greek speculation about an already-old word rather than a recovered origin. What is documented is the role, not the root: Athena as goddess of wisdom, craft, weaving and strategy in war.
a-ta-na (Mycenaean Greek, Linear B) → Athana (Doric Greek) → Athēnē / Athēnaia (Attic Greek) → Athena (Latin) → Athena (English)
How it traveled
Athena belonged first to Bronze Age Greece, named on clay tablets before Homer, and the Iliad and Odyssey give her the standing epithet glaukopis — bright-eyed, or owl-eyed, which is why the owl became hers. Athens took her as its patron, struck her on its coins, and built the Parthenon on the hill above the city for her.
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
Allison
AL-ih-sun
Three syllables, stress on the first. The middle vowel is light, so it can sound like AL-uh-sun in quick speech. No pronunciation difference between Allison and Alison.
- Allie — The most common short form; also given as a standalone name, and shared with Alexandra, Alyssa and Alice.
- Ally — Same nickname, the other spelling; used informally and often kept into adulthood.
- Al — Clipped and casual, used within families more than outside them.
- Alli — A third spelling of the same short form, mostly written rather than heard.
- Also Lissy.
Athena
uh-THEE-nuh
Standard in English. Greek speakers say it ah-thee-NAH, with the stress on the last syllable — worth knowing if there is Greek family involved, since both are correct in their own language.
- Thena — The most-used short form in English, informal and family-level; it does not stand alone as a given name.
- Attie — Informal, spelled Attie or Atty; shares its sound with short forms of Atticus and Matilda.
- Tina — Taken from the middle of the name; a long-established given name in its own right, common among older generations.
- Athie — Informal and mostly household use; the 'th' keeps it clearly tied to the full name.
Who has carried each name
Allison
Allison Janney (b. 1959) — Oscar winner (I, Tonya) and The West Wing's C.J.
Allison Williams (b. 1988) — Girls and Get Out star
Athena
No documented entry for Athena 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 Allison if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAllison is stepping back from its peak
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Athena
Choose Athena if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooAthena is on the national lists of Canada and England & Wales
- a name that feels very nowAthena is holding its place on the charts
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
Allison
Strengths
- Immediately recognizable and pronounceable to English speakers, with no ambiguity about how the sounds go.
- Long documented line back through medieval England to Alice, so it is old without sounding antique.
- Established short forms already in real use — Allie, Ally, Al — none of which you have to invent.
To consider
- Allison, Alison, Allyson and Alyson all exist and all sound identical, so she will spell it out often. The double-L is the American default; outside the US, one L is the safer assumption.
- Allie and Ally arrive at the same nickname from Alexandra, Alyssa, Alice and Alexis, so the short form is far less distinctive than the full name.
- It rose late enough that a great many bearers are adults now rather than children — the name reads current, but it is not new.
Athena
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, and recognized on sight across Europe and the Americas thanks to the goddess — very little correcting to do.
- A documented written record stretching from Bronze Age clay tablets to today, unbroken and never reinvented.
- Charts in Canada and England and Wales as well as the US, so it travels without becoming a different name.
To consider
- The mythology comes with it. Every school unit on ancient Greece, every owl joke, every 'goddess of wisdom' remark — most children take this in stride, but it is a lifetime of the same three comments.
- English and Greek stress the name differently, uh-THEE-nuh against ah-thee-NAH, and a Greek-speaking family may also prefer the spelling Athina. Worth agreeing on early.
- It is far more common among children now than among adults, so some people will hear it as a new name and others as a very old one. Both are right.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Allison
12%chance Allison feels dated by 2040
Allison has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Athena
40%chance Athena feels dated by 2040
Athena sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
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 Allison and Athena 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 Allison and Athena?
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 that carry both names
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- The sweet spot: familiar but not everywhere
- Three-syllable names with room to move
- all guides
Every list here names both Allison and Athena — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Allison or Athena — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Allison or Athena?
- Allison, in 2025: Allison ranked #103 with 2,564 babies; Athena ranked #109 with 2,477 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Allison or Athena?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Allison moved down 23 places; Athena moved down 2 places.
- Which is the older name, Allison or Athena?
- Allison entered the US charts in 1908; Athena entered the US charts in 1902. On the American record, Athena is the older name.
- How many people are named Allison and Athena?
- About 311,000 people named Allison are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 51,500 people named Athena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Allisons or Athenas in the classroom?
- Allison will almost certainly be the only one in school. Athena 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
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Allison, Athena and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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