Alene
Feminine
Alene is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 8,748 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
The -ene ending was the most productive tool in American women's naming in the 1920s. Arlene, Charlene, Darlene, Marlene and Alene all arrived within about two decades, and what they share is a rhythm rather than an ancestry — a light front syllable and a stressed ending that turns almost anything into a name. Alene is the shortest of the set.
How old is the name Alene?
Alene first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Alene alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 2,800 people named Alene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alene most popular?
Alene peaked in 1920, reaching #409 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 14,533 places below that high. See the whole 1920 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Alene
American naming between about 1910 and 1940 produced a whole cohort of women's names on the -ene and -eene endings, and they rose and fell together. It is one of the clearest cohort effects in the whole record: the names are cousins by construction, arrived at the same moment, and are now precisely datable because of it. Alene appears from 1883 — earlier than most of its relatives — and peaked in 1920, which puts it at the front of the wave rather than in the middle.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Nothing is established. The name may be a form of Aileen, which comes through Irish from a Norman French name; it may be Helen with the front removed; or it may be the A- front and the -ene ending joined, which is what its neighbors plainly are. Name books offer bright and fair, borrowed from Helen — whose own meaning has never been settled either.
Pronouncing Alene
uh-LEEN
Two syllables with the stress at the back, and the ending rhyming with seen. Some families say AY-leen with the weight in front; both are heard in American use.
Nicknames for Alene
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
- 1883
- Most girls named
- 1921250 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #409reached in 1920
- Change vs 2022
- −58.3%5 in 2025, from 12
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.
Alene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Eibhlín in Irish — related form
Alenes among us
people named Alene are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Alene
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Alene
- #14942
- Alene on the 2025 chart
- #948
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Alene went to 5 girls in 2025, but Allene is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 12, which makes it the 948th most-given girls’ name of the year — 13,994 places above the chart.
- Allene7
- Alene5
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 321,453 for Alene 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 Leatha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alene's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leatha climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leatha's path sketches the road Alene is walking now.
Alene 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
Alene beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alene in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters, two syllables, and readable on sight by any English speaker.
- Allie is available and is among the most current short forms in the country.
- It is recorded for boys as well as girls, though nearly all are girls.
- Aileen, Arlene and Ilene all sit close by and will be written instead.
- There is no documented meaning, and the ones printed are borrowed from other names.
- It belongs precisely to one American generation and dates a woman accordingly.
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Alene
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Alene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Alene?
- Alene is one of 2 recorded spellings. Allene is the more common one — 7 births in 2025 against 5 for Alene.
- How popular is the name Alene in 2025?
- Alene ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alene?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Alene — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alene with classmates?
- Alene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alene
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alene? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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