Alaska
Feminine · “the mainland”
Alaska is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,293 girls against 13 boys since 1880.
Alaska is an Aleut word that Russian traders wrote down and English inherited, and it does not mean what the poetic versions claim. It names the mainland — the big land over there, as seen from an island.
How old is the name Alaska?
Alaska first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Alaska is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,300 people named Alaska are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alaska most popular?
Alaska peaked in 2020, reaching #1818 nationally. Today it ranks #2895, 1,077 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From alaxsxaq to Alaska
The story of Alaska
The Aleutian islanders had a word for the great land to their east, and Russian fur traders learned it from them in the eighteenth century. When the United States bought the territory in 1867 the name came with it, first for the peninsula and then for everything. As a given name Alaska is very recent and thoroughly American, part of a group of place-names — Alaska, Dakota, Montana, Georgia — used as first names, and it is given to daughters more often than sons.
Meaning
the mainland; the object the sea acts upon
From Aleut alaxsxaq, generally given as 'the object toward which the action of the sea is directed' — which is a linguist's careful rendering of a word meaning the mainland, the land the surf runs against. Russian traders took it as Alyaska and applied it first to the peninsula, then to the whole territory. The reading is documented; the tidier glosses that circulate are simplifications of it.
How the name formed
- alaxsxaq
- Alyaska
- Alaska
Related forms: Alaxsxaq · Аляска
Pronouncing Alaska
uh-LAS-kuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Every English speaker says it correctly, because the state is unavoidable — the name has no pronunciation problem at all.
Nicknames for Alaska
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 2020108 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1818reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- −28.4%58 in 2025, from 81
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.
Alaska in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alaxsxaq in Aleut — related form
- Аляска in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, California.
Alaskas among us
people named Alaska are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 27,712 born in 2025 was named Alaska
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 Jaymee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alaska's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jaymee climbed just as high around 1992, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jaymee's path sketches the road Alaska is walking now.
Alaska 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 Alaska is headed
Alaska should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Alaska beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alaska in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Said and spelled correctly by every English speaker without being told.
- A documented Aleut word rather than an invented or borrowed-sounding one.
- Three syllables that pair well with a short surname.
- It is a state, and everyone who meets the name will think of the state first.
- Place-names as first names date quickly and visibly.
- It is a large and cold association to hand a child, which some families like and others do not.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Alaska to the vote.
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What they receive
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Alaska
Feminine · #2895 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alaskas 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 Alaska are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alaska in 2025?
- Alaska ranks #2895 among US girl names in 2025, with 58 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alaska?
- About 1 in every 27,712 US girls born in 2025 was named Alaska — 58 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alaska with classmates?
- Alaska will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alaska
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Noora#2895 · Anastacia#2895 · Amore#2895 · Vanellope#2895 · Alyah#2895 · Mylie#2895 · Miamor#2895 · Anaiyah#2895
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alaska? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alaska and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
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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