Alanna
A feminine name of Celtic origin meaning "child".
Name Census estimates that about 24,965 living Americans carry the first name Alanna. It sits at #289 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alanna today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alanna births was 2024 (1,096 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alanna. 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 Alanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,729 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,096 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
1989 SSA rank
#289
Tracked since 1930
Census
Alanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 20,265 people with the first name Alanna, which placed it at #1,589 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
#1,589
National first-name rank
People counted
20K
20,265 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alanna is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.9%) and Black (14.2%). 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 Alanna 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 Alanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.4% · 11,629
- Hispanic or Latino16.9% · 3,416
- Black or African American14.2% · 2,870
- Two or more races7.9% · 1,598
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 553
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 199
Gender
Gender distribution for Alanna
Out of the 25,913 babies given the name Alanna since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Alanna as a male name
- Ranked #6,237 in 1989
- 7 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (7 births)
Alanna as a female name
- Ranked #289 in 2024
- 1,096 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,096 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 20,264 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Alanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alanna from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6,175 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Alanna remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alanna 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 Alanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Alanna, while South Dakota, Hawaii, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 476 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alanna
The name Alanna has its origins in the Gaelic language, primarily used in Ireland and Scotland. It is derived from the Gaelic word "alain," which means "handsome" or "beautiful." The name likely emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 5th to 10th century AD, when Gaelic was widely spoken in these regions.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Alanna can be found in Irish mythology and folklore. In the medieval Irish legend, the "Fenian Cycle," there is a character named Alanna, who is described as a beautiful and skilled warrior woman. This legendary figure may have contributed to the popularity of the name in ancient Ireland.
The name Alanna gained further recognition in the 19th century with the publication of the novel "The Alanna Cycle" by Tamora Pierce. The series, which began in 1983, follows the adventures of a young girl named Alanna who disguises herself as a boy to train as a knight. This popular fantasy series helped to popularize the name in the modern era.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Alanna. One of the earliest recorded was Alanna, Princess of Leinster, who lived in Ireland in the 12th century. Another notable figure was Alanna Mitsui (1917-2012), a Japanese-American artist and educator known for her work in promoting cross-cultural understanding through art.
In the realm of literature, Alanna Knight (1923-2017) was a Scottish writer best known for her historical crime novels set in Victorian-era Edinburgh. In the field of music, Alanna Ubach (born 1975) is an American actress and singer who has lent her voice to various animated films and television shows.
Alanna Masterson (born 1988) is an American actress best known for her role as Tara Chambler in the popular television series "The Walking Dead." Additionally, Alanna Bess (born 1992) is a Canadian actress and singer who has appeared in various television shows and stage productions.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Alanna throughout history, showcasing its enduring popularity and cultural significance across various regions and time periods.
People
Alanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alanna 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
Alanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,965 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alanna 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 13,729 US residents.
Is Alanna a common name?
We classify Alanna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 25,913 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Alanna was 2024, when 1,096 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alanna is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 20,265 people with the name Alanna, or 6.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,589 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 Alanna 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 Alanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 20,264 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Alanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alanna is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.9%) and Black (14.2%). 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 Alanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (11,629 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 Alanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alanna 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 Alanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alanna 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 Alanna 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 have the name Alanna?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Alanna on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.