Altie
Feminine
Altie is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 650 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
Altie is recorded for sons and for daughters, with rather more sons, and it may shorten a Latin word name, a place name or nothing at all. Its first syllable is the word for high, which explains a musical part that is not sung by the people its name implies.
How old is the name Altie?
Altie first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Altie alive today was born around 1916, making them about 109 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Altie are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Altie most popular?
Altie peaked in 1889, reaching #839 nationally. See the whole 1889 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Altie
Alto means high, and the part was written for men. In early polyphony the tenor held the given melody and the contratenor altus ran above it — the high voice against the tenor — sung by adult men using their upper register or by falsettists. The name stuck to the line rather than to the singer, so when women took the part over in later centuries they inherited a label that describes a man's high voice, which is why a female alto is singing in a range the word was not coined for. The contratenor bassus, running below, gave us bass by the same route. The countertenor revival of the last century put men back on the line, which occasionally confuses audiences who assume it is a novelty.
Meaningnot established
Not established
It may be a familiar form of Alta, itself the Latin and Spanish word for high; it may shorten Althea; or it may be one of the free builds the eighteen-eighties produced in quantity. Nothing separates them.
Pronouncing Altie
AL-tee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Some families say AWL-tee, following the Latin word rather than the English vowel.
Nicknames for Altie
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
- 1882
- Most girls named
- 192023 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #839reached in 1889
- Change vs 1944
- −16.7%5 in 1946, from 6
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.
Alties among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Altie are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Altie sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Two syllables with front stress is the plainest shape English has.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- It is genuinely rare and belongs to almost nobody now living.
- Alta, Allie and Altha will all be written for it.
- It reads as a nickname, so people will ask what it stands for.
- Nothing records which of the three origins applies.
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Altie
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Alties are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Altie are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Altie in 2025?
- Altie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Altie with classmates?
- Altie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
Anna#107 · Ashley#164 · Amanda#493 · Amy#257 · Angela#408 · Alice#65 · Ann#1076 · Andrea#235
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Altie? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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