Alys
Feminine · “noble kind”
Alys is Alice as the Middle Ages and Wales both spelled it, and Alice is a Germanic name worn down almost to nothing: Adalheidis, noble kind, became Adaliz in Old French and then Aliz and then Alice, losing a syllable at every step. This spelling is the one that stopped before the final e.
How old is the name Alys?
Alys was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Alys alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 800 people named Alys are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alys most popular?
Alys peaked in 1880, reaching #836 nationally. Today it ranks #4878, 4,042 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Where it comes from
From Adalheidis to Alys
The story of Alys
Adalheidis was a name for Frankish and German noblewomen, and it produced two lines: the full form, which became Adelaide, and the shortened one, which became Alice. Alice was among the most common women's names in medieval England, and Alys is how it was often written before spelling settled. Wales kept that spelling and still uses it. In American records the form appears in the nineteenth century, when medieval spellings were fashionable, and again now with the wider revival of Alice.
Meaning
noble kind; of noble sort
Germanic adal, noble, joined to heid, kind or sort, giving Adalheidis. Old French reduced it to Adaliz and Aliz, and English took that as Alice. The Welsh Alys is the same name with Welsh spelling conventions.
How the name formed
- Adalheidis
- Adaliz
- Aliz
- Alys
Related forms: Alys · Alice · Alix · Adelheid · Alice
Pronouncing Alys
AL-iss
Two syllables, stress in front, said exactly like Alice. Welsh says it the same way, with a slightly crisper final s.
Nicknames for Alys
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 girls named
- 202329 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #836reached in 1880
- Change vs 2023
- −6.9%27 in 2025, from 29
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.
Alys in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alys in Welsh — same name
- Alice in English — spelling variant
- Alix in French — same name
- Adelheid in German — related form
- Alice in Italian — same name
Alyss among us
people named Alys are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 59,528 born in 2025 was named Alys
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Alys
- #4878
- Alys on the 2025 chart
- #873
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Alys went to 27 girls in 2025, but Alis, 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 — 4,005 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 59,528 for Alys 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
Fashion outlook
Alys 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 Alys is headed
Alys looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 37% 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.
Alys beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alys in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a genuine historical spelling rather than a modern respelling, which is unusual.
- It has a real home in Welsh, where it is the standard form.
- It carries a documented Germanic name with one of the most productive histories in Europe.
- Alice is the standard English spelling and will be written instead by nearly everyone.
- The y looks modern to American readers, though the spelling is medieval.
- Alice is currently well used, so the sound will not be distinctive.
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Alys
Feminine · #4878 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alyss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Alys are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Alys?
- Alys is one of 4 recorded spellings. Alis is the more common one — 34 births in 2025 against 27 for Alys.
- How popular is the name Alys in 2025?
- Alys ranks #4878 among US girl names in 2025, with 27 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alys?
- About 1 in every 59,528 US girls born in 2025 was named Alys — 27 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alys with classmates?
- Alys will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alys
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maribelle#4878 · Evangelia#4878 · Pari#4878 · Zoraya#4878 · Saba#4878 · Chyna#4878 · Odyssey#4878 · Zana#4878
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alys? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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