Head to head · Girls' names
Allison vs Hailey
#103 vs #104 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Allison is a whisker ahead (#103 vs #104 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. 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, Allison leads 4 measures of 6; Hailey 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, Hailey — — Allison higher
- 1910s: Allison #1966, Hailey — — Allison higher
- 1920s: Allison #1862, Hailey — — Allison higher
- 1930s: Allison #1618, Hailey — — Allison higher
- 1940s: Allison #1123, Hailey — — Allison higher
- 1950s: Allison #471, Hailey — — Allison higher
- 1960s: Allison #211, Hailey #5980 — Allison higher
- 1970s: Allison #94, Hailey #3478 — Allison higher
- 1980s: Allison #51, Hailey #708 — Allison higher
- 1990s: Allison #41, Hailey #131 — Allison higher
- 2000s: Allison #42, Hailey #27 — Hailey higher
- 2010s: Allison #49, Hailey #54 — Allison higher
- 2020s: Allison #94, Hailey #89 — Hailey higher
Allison stood higher in 11 of 13 decades; Hailey took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Allison | Hailey |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | #1862 | — |
| 1910s | #1966 | — |
| 1920s | #1862 | — |
| 1930s | #1618 | — |
| 1940s | #1123 | — |
| 1950s | #471 | — |
| 1960s | #211 | #5980 |
| 1970s | #94 | #3478 |
| 1980s | #51 | #708 |
| 1990s | #41 | #131 |
| 2000s | #42 | #27 |
| 2010s | #49 | #54 |
| 2020s | #94 | #89 |
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.
Hailey
- Canada#60
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.
Hailey
hay clearing, hay meadow
From Old English hēg (hay) and lēah (woodland clearing or meadow) — the source of the Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire villages called Hailey, and of the surnames Hailey and Haley taken from them.
hēg-lēah (Old English) → Hailey (English place name) → Haley / Hailey (surname) → Hailey (given name)
How it traveled
The oldest layer is a landscape word: lēah, an Old English term for a clearing in woodland, joined to hēg, hay — ground cleared and kept for mowing. Settlements with that description were called Hailey, and families who left them carried the place with them as a surname.
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.
Hailey
HAY-lee
Stress on the first syllable. All the common spellings — Hailey, Hayley, Haley, Hailee — are said exactly the same way, which is why they are so easily confused in writing.
- Hails — The everyday informal short form among friends and family; rarely written on anything official.
- Hay — Casual clipping, usually heard from siblings or close friends rather than used more widely.
- Lee — Drawn from the second syllable; also stands alone as a given name and a middle name in its own right.
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
Hailey
Hailey Bieber (b. 1996) — Model and Rhode beauty founder, married to Justin Bieber
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 with more sound in itAllison runs 3 syllables, Hailey 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Allie, Ally and Al
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 81% for Hailey
Choose Hailey if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesHailey is 2 syllables to Allison's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooHailey is on the national lists of Canada
- a name that feels very nowHailey 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
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.
Hailey
Strengths
- Pronunciation is immediate: almost no English speaker hesitates over it, in any of its spellings.
- Hailey is the spelling that became standard in American records, so it is the one clerks and teachers are most likely to guess first.
- The surname and place name behind it are documented in England for centuries, giving the name a long paper trail.
To consider
- Hayley, Haley, Hailee and Haleigh all remain in use, so this name will be spelled back at you wrongly now and then for life. Saying the letters becomes routine rather than remarkable.
- It rose sharply and has been easing back, which means it reads as a name of the millennial-and-after generations rather than a neutral classic — most people named Hailey today are young adults.
- The -lee ending is shared with a whole cluster of popular names, so it may blend acoustically with classmates called Riley, Bailey or Kaylee even when no other Hailey is present.
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.
Hailey
81%chance Hailey feels dated by 2040
Hailey is coming down from a big peak (#19 in 2010). 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 Allison and Hailey 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 Hailey?
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
Every list here names both Allison and Hailey — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Allison or Hailey — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Allison or Hailey?
- Allison, in 2025: Allison ranked #103 with 2,564 babies; Hailey ranked #104 with 2,556 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Allison or Hailey?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Allison moved down 23 places; Hailey moved down 23 places.
- Which is the older name, Allison or Hailey?
- Allison entered the US charts in 1908; Hailey entered the US charts in 1963. On the American record, Allison is the older name.
- How many people are named Allison and Hailey?
- About 311,000 people named Allison are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 180,000 people named Hailey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Allisons or Haileys in the classroom?
- Allison will almost certainly be the only one in school. Hailey 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, Hailey and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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