Alain
A masculine French name derived from the Old German name Alahan.
Name Census estimates that about 3,727 living Americans carry the first name Alain. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Alain today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alain births was 1988 (92 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alain. 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 Alain with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.7K
~ 1 in 91,965 Americans
Peak year
1988
92 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,209
Tracked since 1942
Census
Alain in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,694 people with the first name Alain, which placed it at #2,702 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
#2,702
National first-name rank
People counted
8.7K
8,694 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
43.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alain
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alain is Hispanic at 43.1%. The next largest groups are White (29.5%) and Black (19.0%). 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 Alain 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 Alain at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino43.1% · 3,750
- White29.5% · 2,567
- Black or African American19.0% · 1,650
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 554
- Two or more races1.9% · 163
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Alain
Out of the 3,942 babies given the name Alain since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Alain as a male name
- Ranked #3,209 in 2024
- 37 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1988 (92 births)
Alain as a female name
- Ranked #8,176 in 1976
- 6 female births in 1976
- Peak: 1976 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alain leans strongly male. 8,520 people counted with this name were male (98.1%), compared with 168 female bearers (1.9%).
Popularity
Alain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alain from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 738 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Alain remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alain 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 Alain during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alains live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Florida, California, New York recorded the most babies named Alain, while Kentucky, Illinois, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 257 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alain
The name Alain has its origins in the Old Germanic language, deriving from the name Alahan, which means "precious" or "valuable." It gained popularity during the Middle Ages across various regions of Europe.
The name Alain is believed to have been introduced to France in the 5th century by the Frankish tribes who settled in the region. Over time, the name evolved into different spellings, including Alain, Alen, and Alan.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Alain can be found in the Chanson de Roland, an Old French epic poem dating back to the 11th century. The poem features a character named Alain le Roux (Alain the Red), who was a companion of the legendary Roland.
In medieval times, the name Alain was particularly popular among the nobility and upper classes in France. Notable historical figures who bore this name include Alain de Lille (c. 1128-1202), a French theologian and poet, and Alain Chartier (c. 1385-1449), a French poet and political writer.
During the Renaissance period, the name Alain gained further prominence. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Alain-René Lesage (1668-1747), a French novelist and playwright best known for his picaresque novel "Gil Blas."
Another notable figure was Alain de Botton (born 1969), a Swiss-British philosopher and author who has written extensively on topics such as love, travel, and architecture.
Other historical figures with the name Alain include Alain Locke (1885-1954), an American philosopher and leader of the Harlem Renaissance, Alain Prost (born 1955), a French Formula One racing driver and four-time world champion, and Alain Delon (born 1935), a French actor and filmmaker.
Throughout history, the name Alain has maintained its presence across various cultures and regions, from its Germanic roots to its popularity in France and beyond. Its enduring legacy reflects the diverse backgrounds and achievements of those who have borne this name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Alain
People
Alain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alain 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
Alain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,727 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alain 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 91,965 US residents.
Is Alain a common name?
We classify Alain as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,942 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alain most popular?
The single biggest year for Alain was 1988, when 92 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alain is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alain in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,694 people with the name Alain, or 2.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,702 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 Alain 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 Alain?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alain leans strongly male. 8,520 people counted with this name were male (98.1%), compared with 168 female bearers (1.9%). 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 Alain?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alain is Hispanic at 43.1%. The next largest groups are White (29.5%) and Black (19.0%). 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 Alain most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Alain in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.1% (3,750 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 Alain in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alain a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Alain in the SSA data are male. 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 Alain still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alain 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 Alain 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 Alain?
Want to know how many people share the name Alain? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.