Alabama
A feminine name of indigenous Choctaw origin meaning "tribal town".
Name Census estimates that about 303 living Americans carry the first name Alabama. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alabama today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alabama births was 2007 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alabama. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Alabama with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
303
~ 1 in 1,131,202 Americans
Peak year
2007
27 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,330
Tracked since 1995
Census
Alabama in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 280 people with the first name Alabama, which placed it at #30,870 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#30,870
National first-name rank
People counted
280
280 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alabama
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alabama is White at 76.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Alabama described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Alabama at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.8% · 215
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 33
- Two or more races5.0% · 14
- Black or African American4.3% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Alabama: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alabama from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 138 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alabama by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Alabama during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alabamas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Alabama
The name Alabama has its roots in the Creek language, spoken by the Creek (Muscogee) Native American tribe indigenous to the southeastern United States. It is believed to be derived from the Choctaw word "alba" meaning "vegetation" or "herbs" and the Muscogee word "amo" meaning "to clear" or "to thicken." Together, these words form the phrase "alabama," which translates to something along the lines of "thicket clearers" or "vegetation gatherers."
The name Alabama was initially used to refer to the Alabama River, which flows through the present-day state of Alabama. The first recorded use of the name dates back to the late 16th century when Spanish explorer Tristan de Luna established a short-lived settlement near the mouth of the Alabama River in 1559. In his reports, he referred to the river as the "Rio de las Alabamas," which translates to "River of the Alabamas."
In the early 19th century, the name Alabama gained prominence as it was adopted as the name for the Alabama Territory, established in 1817, and later the state of Alabama, which was admitted to the Union in 1819. This cemented the name's association with the region and its indigenous peoples.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Alabama. One of the earliest recorded instances is Alabama Milbanks, an English author and poet who lived in the late 18th century (circa 1760-1820). Another early example is Alabama Whitfield, an African American educator and activist who founded several schools for freedmen in the late 19th century (1847-1916).
In more recent times, Alabama Worley was an American singer and songwriter known for her contributions to the country music genre (1925-2002). Alabama Luella Barker was a prominent Canadian writer and activist who advocated for women's rights and Indigenous causes (1901-1966). Alabama Chanin is a contemporary American fashion designer and entrepreneur known for her sustainable and ethical clothing line (born 1975).
While the name Alabama has its origins rooted in Native American culture and language, it has transcended its geographical confines and become a unique and distinctive first name with a rich historical tapestry.
People
Alabama + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alabama as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Alabama: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alabama?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 303 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alabama going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,131,202 US residents.
Is Alabama a common name?
We classify Alabama as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 306 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alabama most popular?
The single biggest year for Alabama was 2007, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alabama is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alabama in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 280 people with the name Alabama, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,870 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Alabama in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Alabama?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alabama leans strongly female. 264 people counted with this name were female (93.3%), compared with 19 male bearers (6.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Alabama?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alabama is White at 76.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Alabama most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alabama in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.8% (215 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Alabama in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alabama a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alabama in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Alabama still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alabama in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Alabama can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Alabama?
You can see how many Americans are named Alabama on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.