Alaine
Feminine
The Alans were an Iranian people of the steppe who ended up in Brittany. They crossed the Rhine in 406 with the Vandals, fought across Gaul and Spain, and a group of them settled in Armorica. One theory holds that the Breton name Alan comes from them, which would make a common European name a memory of a nomadic cavalry people.
How old is the name Alaine?
Alaine first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Alaine alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 1,300 people named Alaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alaine most popular?
Alaine peaked in 1967, reaching #2039 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 6,821 places below that high. See the whole 1967 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alan to Alaine
The story of Alaine
The Alans are one of the more far-traveled peoples of late antiquity. Iranian-speaking nomads from the steppe north of the Caucasus, they were pushed west by the Huns, crossed the Rhine in the winter of 406 with the Vandals and Sueves, and spent the next decades fighting and settling across Gaul, Spain and North Africa. Some went with the Vandals to Carthage; some were settled by the Romans in Armorica and around Orleans as military colonists. Their descendants in the Caucasus are the Ossetians, who still speak an Iranian language. The theory that the Breton name Alan preserves their name rests on the settlement in Armorica and on the name's early concentration there, and it is plausible rather than proven. The name reached England with the Bretons who came in 1066 and has been in use ever since.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Alan has no established etymology. Proposals include the tribal name of the Alans, an Iranian steppe people who settled in Gaul in the fifth century; a Breton word for a deer or for harmony; and a Celtic element meaning rock. None is secure. Alaine is a French-influenced feminine of it. It peaks in the American data in 1967.
How the name formed
- Alan
- Alaine
Related forms: Alaine · Elaine · Alan
Pronouncing Alaine
uh-LAYN
Two syllables, stress on the second. The French is a-LEN with a nasal vowel. Elaine, a separate name from the Arthurian material, is a near-homophone in English.
Nicknames for Alaine
Moderate
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
- 1916
- Most girls named
- 196431 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2039reached in 1967
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%11 in 2025, from 11
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.
Alaine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alaine in French — same name
- Elaine in English — related form
- Alan in Breton — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Alaines among us
people named Alaine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Alaine
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Gearline test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alaine's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gearline climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gearline's path sketches the road Alaine is walking now.
Alaine 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Alaine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alaine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is short and elegant on the page.
- Lainie works as a short form.
- The name has a long European history whatever its origin.
- No etymology can be given with confidence.
- Elaine and Alaine are near-homophones and frequently confused.
- It is dated to the middle of the twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Alaine
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alaines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Alaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alaine in 2025?
- Alaine ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alaine?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Alaine — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alaine with classmates?
- Alaine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alaine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alaine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alaine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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