Alis
Feminine · “noble kind”
Alis is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 510 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Alis is the Welsh form of Alice, and Alice itself is what French did to Adelheid — a Germanic compound worn down to two syllables.
How old is the name Alis?
Alis first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Alis is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Alis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alis most popular?
Alis peaked in 2025, reaching #4172 nationally. Today it ranks #4172, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Adelheid to Alis
The story of Alis
Adelheid was a tenth-century empress and saint, and her name traveled into French as Adelis and then eroded — Aalis, Alis, Alice. Welsh took Alis and has used it since the medieval period. English readers meeting it often assume a misspelling, but it is the older form of the two. Adelaide, from the same Adelheid, took a completely different road and is the same name.
Meaning
noble kind, of noble sort
From Germanic adal, noble, and heid, kind or sort; Adelheid gave Old French Adelis, then Aalis, then Alice. Welsh took Alis, which keeps the older French shape more closely than English does.
How the name formed
- Adelheid
- Adelis
- Alis
Related forms: Alis · Alice · Adelheid
Pronouncing Alis
AL-iss
Two syllables, first stressed. Welsh gives both syllables even weight.
Nicknames for Alis
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 202534 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4172reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +36.0%34 in 2025, from 25
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.
Alis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alis in Welsh — same name
- Alice in English — same name
- Adelheid in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, California.
Aliss among us
people named Alis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 47,273 born in 2025 was named Alis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Alis
- #4172
- Alis on the 2025 chart
- #873
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Alis went to 34 girls in 2025, but Alys, Aliz and Allis are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 87, which makes it the 873rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,299 places above the chart.
- Alis34
- Alys27
- Aliz18
- Allis8
About 1 girl in 18,474 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 47,273 for Alis 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 Gimena test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gimena climbed just as high around 2004, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gimena's path sketches the road Alis is walking now.
Alis 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 Alis is headed
Alis looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 15% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. 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.
Alis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Germanic meaning shared with one of Europe's great names.
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- It carries Welsh identity clearly, which is the point for the families who use it.
- Alice is the standard English spelling and this will be read as a shortening.
- The connection to Adelaide surprises people and is genuine.
- It is close to Alys, Alissa and Alice, which get confused.
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What they receive
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Alis
Feminine · #4172 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aliss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Alis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Alis?
- Alis is the most-used spelling in US records — 34 of the 87 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Alys, Aliz and Allis.
- How popular is the name Alis in 2025?
- Alis ranks #4172 among US girl names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alis?
- About 1 in every 47,273 US girls born in 2025 was named Alis — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alis with classmates?
- Alis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseanna#4172 · Elida#4172 · Neila#4172 · Savina#4172 · Kendyl#4172 · Zakiya#4172 · Naisha#4172 · Ethel#4172
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alis and another name?
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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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