Alania
Of Greek origin, meaning "having noble roots or beginnings".
Name Census estimates that about 704 living Americans carry the first name Alania. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alania today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alania births was 2013 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alania. 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 Alania with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
704
~ 1 in 486,867 Americans
Peak year
2013
33 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,577
Tracked since 1970
Census
Alania in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 645 people with the first name Alania, which placed it at #17,212 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
#17,212
National first-name rank
People counted
645
645 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alania
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alania is White at 40.8%. The next largest groups are Black (31.6%) and Hispanic (21.6%). 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 Alania 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 Alania at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.8% · 263
- Black or African American31.6% · 204
- Hispanic or Latino21.6% · 139
- Two or more races4.3% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 5
Popularity
Alania: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alania from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 240 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alania remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alania 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 Alania during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alanias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Louisiana, Florida recorded the most babies named Alania, while New Jersey, Florida, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alania
The name Alania has its origins in the ancient region of Alania, located in the Caucasus mountains between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. This area was once inhabited by the Alans, an Iranian nomadic pastoral people who settled there in the 1st century AD. The name is derived from the word "Alan," which is believed to have meant "mountaineer" or "free man" in the Alan language.
Alania was the name given to the kingdom established by the Alans in this region during the Middle Ages. The Alans were well-known as skilled warriors and played a significant role in the military campaigns of various empires, including the Byzantine Empire and the Khazar Khaganate. Historical records mention the Alans as early as the 1st century AD, with references to their interactions with the Roman Empire and other ancient civilizations.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alania can be found in the writings of the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (c. 500-565 AD), who described the Alans as a formidable people living in the Caucasus region. The name Alania also appears in medieval Armenian and Georgian chronicles, reflecting the cultural and political significance of this kingdom in the region.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Alania. One of the most famous was Alania of Brittany (c. 1098-1153), a Breton noblewoman and the wife of Stephen, King of England. Another notable figure was Alania di Saluzzo (c. 1285-1311), an Italian noblewoman and the Countess of Saluzzo.
In the realm of religion, there was Alania of Antioch (c. 640-690 AD), a Christian martyr and saint who was executed for her faith during the reign of the Umayyad Caliphate. The medieval Persian poet Alania Rumi (c. 1207-1273) was also a well-known figure in the literary world of his time.
During the Renaissance period, Alania Bastarda (c. 1460-1555) was an Italian painter and the daughter of the celebrated artist Piero della Francesca. She was renowned for her contributions to the art of portraiture and religious paintings.
While the name Alania has its roots in the ancient Caucasus region, it has been used across various cultures and time periods, reflecting the diverse historical and cultural influences that have shaped its meaning and significance.
People
Alania + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alania 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
Alania: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alania?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 704 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alania 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 486,867 US residents.
Is Alania a common name?
We classify Alania as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 717 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alania most popular?
The single biggest year for Alania was 2013, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alania is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alania in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 645 people with the name Alania, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,212 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 Alania 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 Alania?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alania appears almost entirely female. Of the 648 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Alania?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alania is White at 40.8%. The next largest groups are Black (31.6%) and Hispanic (21.6%). 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 Alania most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alania in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.8% (263 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 Alania in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alania a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alania 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 Alania still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alania 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 Alania 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 Alania?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.