Alane
A feminine name of French origin meaning "magnificent" or "handsome".
Name Census estimates that about 1,313 living Americans carry the first name Alane. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alane today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alane births was 1964 (97 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alane. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 261,047 Americans
Peak year
1964
97 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2022 SSA rank
#15,396
Tracked since 1940
Census
Alane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,690 people with the first name Alane, which placed it at #8,560 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
#8,560
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,690 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alane is White at 82.7%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Alane 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 Alane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.7% · 1,398
- Black or African American6.9% · 117
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 89
- Two or more races2.4% · 41
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 14
Popularity
Alane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alane from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 652 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alane 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 Alane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alanes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Alane, while New Jersey, Missouri, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alane
The name Alane is of French origin, derived from the Old French word "alne," which means "alder tree." The name emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century, and was initially used as a surname for individuals who lived near an alder tree grove or worked with alder wood.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alane can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions an individual named Alanus, which is believed to be the Latin form of the name Alane.
In the 13th century, the name appeared in religious texts, such as the writings of the French theologian Alain de Lille, also known as Alanus ab Insulis (c. 1128 - 1202). He was a prominent scholastic philosopher and poet who wrote works like "Anticlaudianus" and "De Planctu Naturae."
Another notable figure with the name Alane was Alain Chartier (c. 1385 - 1430), a French poet and political writer during the Hundred Years' War. He served as a court secretary and diplomat, and his works, such as "Le Quadrilogue Invectif" and "La Belle Dame sans Merci," influenced later poets like François Villon and Geoffrey Chaucer.
In the 16th century, Alain Blanchard (c. 1516 - 1589) was a French Protestant theologian and pastor who played a significant role in the French Reformation. He authored several religious works and served as a minister in various French cities.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Alain-René Lesage (1668 - 1747) was a French novelist and playwright best known for his picaresque novel "Gil Blas," which satirized the society of his time and became a literary classic.
Throughout history, the name Alane has been predominantly used in France and regions influenced by French culture, although its usage has expanded globally in recent times. While not as common as some other French names, Alane has maintained a presence in literary and historical records, reflecting its rich heritage and enduring appeal.
People
Alane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alane 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
Alane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,313 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alane 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 261,047 US residents.
Is Alane a common name?
We classify Alane as "Rare". It ranks above 91.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,664 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alane most popular?
The single biggest year for Alane was 1964, when 97 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alane is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,690 people with the name Alane, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,560 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 Alane 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 Alane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alane leans strongly female. 1,669 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 24 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Alane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alane is White at 82.7%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Alane most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.7% (1,398 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 Alane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alane a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alane 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 Alane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alane 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 Alane 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 are called Alane?
You can see how many people share the name Alane on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.