Alban
Masculine · “Latin albus”
St Albans is one of the few English cities that threw away its Roman name. Verulamium was a substantial Roman town; the medieval city beside it took the name of a man executed there, and the Roman name survives mainly as a title.
How old is the name Alban?
Alban first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Alban alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 700 people named Alban are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alban most popular?
Alban peaked in 1915, reaching #1600 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 9,095 places below that high. See the whole 1915 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Albanus to Alban
The story of Alban
The story, told by Bede from an earlier source, is that Alban sheltered a fugitive priest, exchanged clothes with him, was arrested in his place and executed on a hill above the Roman town of Verulamium. A shrine grew on the spot, then an abbey, then a town that took the martyr's name, and the Roman settlement below was quarried for its bricks; the abbey church is full of them. Verulamium survives as a name only in the ruins, the museum and the title Francis Bacon took as Viscount St Alban. Very few Romano-British place names were replaced so completely, and almost none by a person. The name itself is Latin and probably means simply white, or from a place called Alba.
Meaningscholars disagree
Latin albus, white
Alban is generally taken from Latin albus, white, or from Alba, a place name found across the Roman world. Alban is remembered as the first British Christian martyr; the date of his death is disputed between the third and fourth centuries. The American peak is 1915.
How the name formed
- Albanus
- Alban
Related forms: Alban · Alban · Albano
Pronouncing Alban
AL-bun
Two syllables, stress on the first. French and German stress the second, al-BAHN.
Nicknames for Alban
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 200424 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1600reached in 1915
- Change vs 2023
- −40.0%6 in 2025, from 10
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.
Alban in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alban in German — same name
- Alban in French — same name
- Albano in Italian — same name
Albans among us
people named Alban are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Alban
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Alban 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
Alban beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alban in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and five letters, spelled as heard.
- The martyr behind it is the earliest named British Christian.
- It is a current name in France and Germany.
- English and continental pronunciations differ.
- It will be heard as Alan or Albin.
- The 1915 peak dates its American use.
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Alban
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Albans 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 Alban are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alban in 2025?
- Alban ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alban?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Alban — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alban with classmates?
- Alban will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alban
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alban? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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