Alauna
Feminine · “Possibly a Celtic river name”
Alauna is one of those names where a real ancient word and a modern respelling land on the same letters. Alauna was a genuine Romano-British and Gaulish place name, attached to at least four rivers and towns in Britain. It is also, and much more often, Alana with an extra vowel — and the American data cannot tell you which you are looking at.
How old is the name Alauna?
Alauna first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Alauna alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 900 people named Alauna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alauna most popular?
Alauna peaked in 2006, reaching #3264 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 3,869 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alana to Alauna
Our story of Alauna
Adding a vowel is the quietest respelling move available. It does not change the sound, it does not change the length in syllables, and it does not look like a deliberate flourish the way a doubled letter or a substituted y does — it looks like a different name. Alana becomes Alauna, Kayla becomes Kaylah, Deana becomes Deauna: one letter, and the name is unique in the school without being unfamiliar in the mouth. What makes Alauna a good example is that the result happens to collide with a real Roman-era place name, which means a family choosing it can find an ancient citation for a spelling that was almost certainly reached by ear. Both things are true at once, and the honest version of this page has to say so. Alauna peaked in 2006, alongside Alaina, Alayna and Aleena, which is where the evidence points.
Meaningnot established
Possibly a Celtic river name; or a respelling of Alana
Alauna appears in Roman itineraries for sites in Britain and Gaul and is generally taken as a Celtic name, perhaps connected to a root meaning to nourish or to a river goddess Alaunos. That is scholarly reconstruction, not a settled reading. Alana, the far more likely modern source, is itself of contested origin — either a feminine of the Breton and Irish Alan, whose own meaning is unknown, or a Hawaiian word for offering. No confident meaning can be given.
How the name formed
- Alana
- Alauna
Related forms: Alana · Alaina
Pronouncing Alauna
uh-LAW-nuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The au is genuinely ambiguous: some say uh-LAW-nuh with the vowel of law, others uh-LAH-nuh, treating the u as silent and the name as Alana. Both are in use.
Nicknames for Alauna
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
- 1983
- Most girls named
- 200650 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3264reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −34.8%15 in 2025, from 23
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.
Alauna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alana in English — spelling variant
- Alaina in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida.
Alaunas among us
people named Alauna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Alauna
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 Jacquelina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alauna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jacquelina climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jacquelina's path sketches the road Alauna is walking now.
Alauna 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
Alauna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alauna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It sounds close enough to Alana to need no explanation aloud.
- Lana and Ally are both established short forms.
- The spelling is distinctive without being difficult.
- The au has two competing pronunciations and the spelling settles neither.
- Alana, Alaina, Alayna and Alauna will all be confused.
- The ancient Celtic connection is a coincidence of spelling, not a documented derivation.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Alauna
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alaunas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Alauna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alauna in 2025?
- Alauna ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alauna?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Alauna — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alauna with classmates?
- Alauna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alauna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alauna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alauna and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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