Alannah
Feminine · “my child”
Alannah is an Irish endearment before it is a name — a leanbh, my child, said so often that English heard it as a word and wrote it down.
How old is the name Alannah?
Alannah first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Alannah alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 7,300 people named Alannah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alannah most popular?
Alannah peaked in 2015, reaching #763 nationally. Today it ranks #1673, 910 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a leanbh to Alannah
The story of Alannah
Alannah entered English through Anglo-Irish speech and literature, where writers rendered Irish endearments phonetically — alannah, acushla, mavourneen. It became a given name in twentieth-century Ireland and spread through the English-speaking world. It appears in the American registers and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
my child, darling
From the Irish a leanbh, 'O child' — a vocative term of endearment, which English rendered as alannah. A second route treats it as a feminine of Alan, whose own Breton origin is unrecovered. The endearment reading is the better documented of the two.
How the name formed
- a leanbh
- alannah
- Alannah
Related forms: Alana · Alanna · A leanbh
Pronouncing Alannah
uh-LAN-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Alannah, Alanna and Alana are said identically.
Nicknames for Alannah
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
- 1948
- Most girls named
- 2015370 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #763reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −14.0%123 in 2025, from 143
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.
Alannah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alana in English — related form
- Alanna in English — spelling variant
- A leanbh in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Alannahs among us
people named Alannah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 13,067 born in 2025 was named Alannah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Alannah
- #1673
- Alannah on the 2025 chart
- #82
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Alannah went to 123 girls in 2025, but Alana, Alanna and Alanah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 3,429, which makes it the 82nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,591 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 469 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 13,067 for Alannah itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Fawn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alannah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Fawn climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Fawn's path sketches the road Alannah is walking now.
Alannah 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
Where Alannah is headed
Alannah is easing off slowly — about 23% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium 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.
Alannah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alannah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The endearment origin is unusually warm and genuinely documented.
- Lana and Ally are two short forms, both with real records.
- Three syllables with a strong middle, a rhythm that carries well.
- The origin is split between an endearment and a feminine of Alan.
- At least three spellings of the sound are in common use.
- It will be respelled by other people constantly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Alannah
Feminine · #1673 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alannahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,300 people named Alannah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Alannah?
- Alannah is one of 5 recorded spellings. Alana is the more common one — 2,085 births in 2025 against 123 for Alannah.
- How popular is the name Alannah in 2025?
- Alannah ranks #1673 among US girl names in 2025, with 123 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alannah?
- About 1 in every 13,067 US girls born in 2025 was named Alannah — 123 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alannah with classmates?
- Alannah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alannah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maylin#1673 · Kalilah#1673 · Camellia#1673 · Miya#1673 · Adrienne#1673 · Vamika#1673 · Denise#1673 · Shoshana#1673
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alannah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alannah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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