Alania
Feminine
Alania is a name of the 2020s, built the way most new American girls' names are built: take an established name — Alana — and add a syllable that makes it longer and softer. It also happens to be the name of a real medieval kingdom in the Caucasus, though nothing connects the two.
How old is the name Alania?
Alania first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Alania alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 700 people named Alania are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alania most popular?
Alania peaked in 2021, reaching #4245 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 993 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alana to Alania
Our story of Alania
The -ia ending is one of the busiest tools in contemporary American naming. Take a name that already works and add it: Ava becomes Avaia, Mila becomes Milania, Alana becomes Alania, Kaia becomes Kaiana. What the ending does is add a syllable and a vowel, which lengthens the name and moves the stress, and the result is a name that sounds established because its base is established and new because nobody has used the extension yet. Alania appears in the American record only in the last decade, peaking in 2021, which is exactly the profile of a name made this way. Its resemblance to the Caucasian kingdom is a coincidence of sound, and an honest account has to say so rather than borrow a history the name does not have.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source establishes an etymology. The name behaves as an extension of Alana, itself of contested origin — usually given as a feminine of Alan, whose own meaning is not settled, with Irish áluinn, beautiful, offered as an alternative that most sources treat as folk etymology. Alania is separately a genuine historical and modern place name: the kingdom of the Alans in the north Caucasus, preserved in the official name of North Ossetia–Alania. Nothing in the American record connects the girls' name to that region.
How the name formed
- Alana
- Alania
Pronouncing Alania
uh-LAY-nee-uh
Four syllables, stress on the second. Some families say uh-LAH-nee-uh with a flatter second vowel, following Alana rather than Alaina.
Nicknames for Alania
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 201333 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4245reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- +71.4%24 in 2025, from 14
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.
Alania in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, California, New Jersey.
Alanias among us
people named Alania are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Alania
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 Anjela test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alania's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Anjela climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Anjela's path sketches the road Alania is walking now.
Alania 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
Alania beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alania in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Lana and Nia are both ready-made short forms with histories of their own.
- It sounds established because its base name is.
- The vowels are open and easy for any English speaker.
- There is no meaning behind it, and the Caucasian kingdom is not its source.
- Alana, Alaina, Alanna and Alania will all be written for each other.
- Four syllables is long for a name whose base is only three.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Alania
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alanias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Alania are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alania in 2025?
- Alania ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alania?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Alania — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alania with classmates?
- Alania will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alania
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Yashika#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alania? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alania and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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