Allanah
Feminine · “O child”
English took several whole Irish phrases and mistook them for words. Alannah is a leanbh, O child. Acushla is a chuisle, O pulse. Mavourneen is mo mhuirnin, my darling. Machree is mo chroi, my heart. Every one of them arrived complete with the little particle that means you are being addressed.
How old is the name Allanah?
Allanah first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Allanah alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 900 people named Allanah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Allanah most popular?
Allanah peaked in 2006, reaching #2778 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 9,154 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a leanbh to Allanah
The story of Allanah
Nineteenth-century novels and songs about Ireland are full of these words, spelled by ear by writers who did not read Irish, and they entered English as terms of affection with no idea of their grammar attached. A leanbh is what an Irish speaker says to a child, and the a is the same particle Latin used in its vocative and English has lost entirely. The name is worth separating from a near neighbor: Alana and Alanna come from Alan, a Breton man's name, and have nothing to do with any of this. Allanah and Alannah come from the endearment. They have converged in American use to the point where most families use whichever spelling they prefer.
Meaning
O child
From Irish a leanbh, a form of address meaning O child, used to a child or a loved one. The a at the front is the Irish vocative particle, not part of the noun. Because it was heard as one word it entered Anglo-Irish writing as alannah, a term of endearment, and became a name from there.
How the name formed
- a leanbh
- alannah
- Allanah
Related forms: a leanbh
Pronouncing Allanah
uh-LAN-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle, with the a of hand in the second. uh-LAH-nuh, with an opener middle vowel, is also used and is closer to the Irish.
Nicknames for Allanah
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
- 1990
- Most girls named
- 200663 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2778reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −36.4%7 in 2025, from 11
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.
Allanah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- a leanbh in Irish — related form
Allanahs among us
people named Allanah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Allanah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Allanah
- #11932
- Allanah on the 2025 chart
- #82
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Allanah went to 7 girls in 2025, but Alana, Alanna and Alannah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 3,429, which makes it the 82nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 11,850 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 469 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 229,610 for Allanah 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 Rosemae test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Allanah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rosemae climbed just as high around 1925, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rosemae's path sketches the road Allanah is walking now.
Allanah 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
Allanah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Allanah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Irish meaning that is a whole phrase rather than a single word.
- Three short forms of very different registers.
- Three open syllables with a regular stress that people read correctly.
- Alannah, Alanna and Alana are all commoner and none of them is quite this name.
- It is a term of endearment rather than a name in Irish, which some Irish speakers will point out.
- The doubled l and the final h are both silent decisions and add nothing you can hear.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Allanah to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Allanah? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Allanah
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Allanahs 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 Allanah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Allanah?
- Allanah is one of 6 recorded spellings. Alana is the more common one — 2,085 births in 2025 against 7 for Allanah.
- How popular is the name Allanah in 2025?
- Allanah ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Allanah?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Allanah — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Allanah with classmates?
- Allanah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Allanah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Allanah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Allanah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle