Adelaide
Feminine · “noble kind”
Adelaide comes from an old Germanic compound meaning "noble kind," and it has been passed between languages for more than a thousand years — German Adelheid, French Adélaïde, Italian and English Adelaide. It gave English the name Alice, by way of a medieval French clipping. Say it aloud and you get three unhurried syllables with the stress up front and a long, open ending.
How old is the name Adelaide?
Adelaide was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Adelaide alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 22,500 people named Adelaide are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Adelaide most popular?
Adelaide peaked in 1883, reaching #179 nationally. Today it ranks #289, 110 places below that high. See the whole 1883 chart.
Where it comes from
From Adalheidis to Adelaide
The story of Adelaide
The name begins as Germanic Adalheidis and spreads through medieval Europe in the form Adelheid, worn most famously by Adelaide of Italy, the tenth-century empress who married Otto the Great and was later canonized. Old French speakers wore the name down to Adelais and then Aalis, which English took up as Alice, while the fuller Adélaïde came back into fashion in France in the eighteenth century and crossed into English soon after. Queen Adelaide, consort of William IV, gave her name to the South Australian city founded in the 1830s, which is why the spelling is familiar to millions of people who have never met a person called Adelaide. It has been in the English-speaking record ever since.
Meaning
noble kind, of noble nature
From the Germanic elements adal "noble" and heid "kind, sort, quality."
How the name formed
- Adalheidis
- Adelheid
- Adelais
- Adélaïde
- Adelaide
Related forms: Adelheid · Adélaïde · Adelaida · Adelajda · Aleid · Heidi
Pronouncing Adelaide
AD-uh-layd
Stress on the first syllable. The French Adélaïde is ah-day-lah-EED, and Australians often reduce the final syllable to AD-uh-lid when naming the city.
Nicknames for Adelaide
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20161,240 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #179reached in 1883
- Change vs 2022
- −5.3%1,062 in 2025, from 1,122
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Adelaide in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Adelheid in German — same name
- Adélaïde in French — spelling variant
- Adelaida in Spanish — same name
- Adelajda in Polish — same name
- Aleid in Dutch — related form
- Heidi in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Adelaides among us
people named Adelaide are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,513 born in 2025 was named Adelaide
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Adelaide peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Adelaide is headed
Adelaide should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Adelaide beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Adelaide in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A spelling most Americans already recognize from the Australian city, so it rarely needs to be spelled out letter by letter.
- More than a thousand years of continuous documented use, across German, French, Italian, Spanish and English.
- Several long-established short forms — Addie, Ada, Della — so a child has real choices without inventing anything.
- Familiar without being crowded: a class is unlikely to hold two of them.
- Adelaide is a city before it is a person for many people, and the question "like the one in Australia?" will come up often.
- It sits in a thicket of near-neighbors — Adeline, Adelina, Adela, Adalyn — so expect occasional mix-ups, and expect Addie to be shared with several of them.
- Three and a half syllables is a lot of name for a small child to write; the short forms will do most of the daily work for the early years.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Adelaide
Feminine · #289 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Adelaides are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 22,500 people named Adelaide are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Adelaide in 2025?
- Adelaide ranks #289 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,062 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Adelaide?
- About 1 in every 1,513 US girls born in 2025 was named Adelaide — 1,062 in all.
- Will my child share the name Adelaide with classmates?
- Adelaide will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Adelaide
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aurelia#290 · Sawyer#290 · Milani#288 · Gia#287 · Poppy#292 · Meadow#286 · Julieta#285 · Aylani#293
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Adelaide? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Adelaide and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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