Alainah
A feminine name of Scottish origin meaning "rock's jewel".
Name Census estimates that about 509 living Americans carry the first name Alainah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alainah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alainah births was 2011 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alainah. 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.
People living today
509
~ 1 in 673,388 Americans
Peak year
2011
39 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,956
Tracked since 1991
Popularity
Alainah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alainah 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 284 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
Alainah 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 Alainah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alainahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Alainah
The name Alainah is a relatively modern variation of the traditional name Alaina, which itself is a feminine form of the masculine name Alain. The name Alain has its origins in the ancient Breton language, which is a Celtic language spoken in the northwestern region of France known as Brittany.
Alain is believed to be derived from the Breton word "alen," which means "little rock" or "pebble." This suggests that the name may have been initially used as a descriptive nickname or surname before becoming a given name. The earliest recorded use of the name Alain dates back to the 6th century in Brittany.
While the name Alain has a long history in Brittany and other parts of France, there are no known historical references or mentions of the name Alainah in ancient texts or religious scriptures. The variant spelling Alainah appears to be a more recent invention, likely emerging in the late 20th century as a feminized form of Alain.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Alainah was Alainah Greenberg, an American actress born in 1983. Other notable individuals with the name Alainah include Alainah Cobb, an American film director born in 1987, and Alainah Parkinson, a Canadian singer-songwriter born in 1991.
In terms of historical figures with the name Alain, there are several noteworthy individuals. Alain de Lille (c. 1128-1202) was a French theologian and poet known for his works on moral philosophy and allegory. Alain Chartier (c. 1385-1430) was a French poet and political writer who served as a court secretary to several French kings.
Another important figure was Alain Locke (1885-1954), an American writer, philosopher, and influential figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922-2008) was a French novelist and filmmaker associated with the French avant-garde movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Finally, Alain Delon (born 1935) is a renowned French actor who has appeared in numerous films and is considered a cultural icon in France and beyond.
People
Alainah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alainah 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
Alainah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alainah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 509 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alainah 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 673,388 US residents.
Is Alainah a common name?
We classify Alainah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 514 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alainah most popular?
The single biggest year for Alainah was 2011, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alainah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Alainah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alainah 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.
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.