Ali
Feminine · “high”
Ali is given to both — 10,505 girls and 34,383 boys since 1880. See Ali as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Ali is two names in one spelling. In English it is a short form of Alison and Alexandra and belongs to women; in Arabic it is one of the most-used men's names in the world. Both are real.
How old is the name Ali?
Ali first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Ali alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 10,500 people named Ali are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ali most popular?
Ali peaked in 1986, reaching #661 nationally. Today it ranks #3459, 2,798 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alison to Ali
The story of Ali
Ali ibn Abi Talib was the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law and the fourth caliph, and his name is among the most-borne men's names on earth. Quite separately, English-speaking families in the twentieth century clipped Alison, Alice and Alexandra to Ali and registered it as a name in its own right, particularly from the 1960s onward. The two lines are unrelated and both appear in American records.
Meaningscholars disagree
high, exalted, or noble
Arabic Ali is from a root meaning high or elevated, and al-Ali is one of the divine names. English Ali is a clipping — from Alison, from Alexandra, from Alice — and carries whichever of their meanings applies; Alice and Alison both descend from a Germanic word for noble.
How the name formed
- Alison
- Ali
Related forms: Ali · Allie · Alison
Pronouncing Ali
AL-ee
Two syllables, first stressed, in English. Arabic gives ah-LEE, with the stress on the second.
Nicknames for Ali
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
- 1960
- Most girls named
- 2011391 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #661reached in 1986
- Change vs 2024
- −38.0%44 in 2025, from 71
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.
Ali in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ali in Arabic — related form
- Allie in English — spelling variant
- Alison in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Alis among us
people named Ali are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 36,529 born in 2025 was named Ali
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ali
- #3459
- Ali on the 2025 chart
- #770
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ali went to 44 girls in 2025, but Ally, Aly and Alli are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 190, which makes it the 770th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,689 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 8,459 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 36,529 for Ali 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 Cyndi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ali's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Cyndi climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Cyndi's path sketches the road Ali is walking now.
Ali 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 Ali is headed
Ali is easing off slowly — about 16% 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.
Ali beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ali in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Alison and Alexandra both stand behind it as fuller formal options.
- It is recognized everywhere, in one tradition or the other.
- To most of the world this is a man's name, and she will meet that.
- It reads as a nickname in English, which may matter on a formal document.
- The English and Arabic pronunciations differ in stress entirely.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Ali
Feminine · #3459 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Ali are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ali?
- Ali is one of 4 recorded spellings. Ally is the more common one — 88 births in 2025 against 44 for Ali.
- How popular is the name Ali in 2025?
- Ali ranks #3459 among US girl names in 2025, with 44 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ali?
- About 1 in every 36,529 US girls born in 2025 was named Ali — 44 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ali with classmates?
- Ali will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ali
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janey#3459 · Devon#3459 · Nitya#3459 · Zayah#3459 · Lively#3459 · Kynsley#3459 · Anaiya#3459 · Ena#3459
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ali? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ali and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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