Allen
Masculine
Allen is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 271,796 boys against 1,866 girls since 1880. See Allen as a girl name
The doubled l is a surname spelling. Alan with one l is the given name as it came out of Brittany; Allen and Allan with two are how the family names were written once they had become family names, and using the doubled form as a first name is borrowing back from the surname.
How old is the name Allen?
Allen was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Allen alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 171,000 people named Allen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Allen most popular?
Allen peaked in 1940, reaching #71 nationally. Today it ranks #578, 507 places below that high. See the whole 1940 chart.
Allen appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Alan to Allen
The story of Allen
That is worth stating plainly because the confident glosses are everywhere. The name arrived in England with Breton followers of the Conqueror — one of the greatest landholders in the country after the Conquest carried it — and became extremely common in the north and in Scotland within a century. Its earlier history in Brittany is not recoverable: the language's early records are thin, the name appears without explanation, and every derivation on offer is somebody matching it against a word that looks similar. A name can be very well documented and still have no known meaning.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name is Breton and its meaning has never been established. Rock, handsome, little and deer have all been proposed and none can be supported from the language.
How the name formed
- Alan
- Allen
- Allan
Related forms: Alain · Alan
Pronouncing Allen
AL-un
Two syllables with the stress at the front and the second reduced. All three spellings are said identically.
Nicknames for Allen
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19515,179 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #71reached in 1940
- Change vs 2022
- −4.2%507 in 2025, from 529
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.
Allen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alain in French — same name
- Alan in Breton — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Allens among us
people named Allen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,369 born in 2025 was named Allen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jessie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Allen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jessie climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jessie's path sketches the road Allen is walking now.
Allen has held the top-100 across 9 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Allen is headed
Allen should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Allen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Allen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is short, plain and completely easy on first hearing.
- It has been in continuous English use for the better part of a thousand years.
- The spelling and the sound agree with nothing to explain.
- Three spellings are equally standard and the choice is queried constantly.
- No meaning can be given, whatever other pages assert.
- Its peak generation is far enough back to date the name for some ears.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Allen to the vote.
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What they receive
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Allen
Masculine · #578 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Allens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 171,000 people named Allen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Allen in 2025?
- Allen ranks #578 among US boy names in 2025, with 507 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Allen?
- About 1 in every 3,369 US boys born in 2025 was named Allen — 507 in all.
- Will my child share the name Allen with classmates?
- Allen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Allen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kylan#578 · Jamie#577 · Jamari#576 · Maximo#580 · Rhodes#575 · Seth#581 · Cassius#582 · Kyren#582
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Allen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Allen and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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