Alene
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "bright" or "sun ray".
Name Census estimates that about 2,274 living Americans carry the first name Alene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alene today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alene births was 1920 (264 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alene. 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
2.3K
~ 1 in 150,728 Americans
Peak year
1920
264 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
1928 SSA rank
#4,161
Tracked since 1883
Census
Alene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,052 people with the first name Alene, which placed it at #5,569 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
#5,569
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,052 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alene is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Black (17.2%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Alene 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 Alene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.3% · 2,146
- Black or African American17.2% · 526
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 197
- Two or more races2.5% · 77
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 72
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 34
Gender
Gender distribution for Alene
Out of the 8,748 babies given the name Alene since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Alene as a male name
- Ranked #4,161 in 1928
- 5 male births in 1928
- Peak: 1928 (5 births)
Alene as a female name
- Ranked #13,506 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (264 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alene appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,044 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Alene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alene from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,356 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alene 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 Alene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Alene, while Montana, Idaho, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 166 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alene
The name Alene is of Greek origin, derived from the word "alenos," which means "sun-ray" or "sunshine." It is a feminine form of the Greek name "Alenos," which was commonly used in ancient Greece.
The earliest recorded use of the name Alene can be traced back to ancient Greek literature, where it was mentioned in various texts and writings. However, the exact date of its first usage is unclear.
In Greek mythology, Alene was the name of one of the Oceanids, the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. According to the myths, the Oceanids were considered to be the nymphs of the fresh and saltwater sources across the world.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Alene was Alene of Thessaly, a Greek mathematician and philosopher who lived in the 4th century BCE. She is credited with contributing to the development of geometry and is considered one of the first female mathematicians in recorded history.
Another notable figure named Alene was Saint Alene of Troyes, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century CE. She was born in Troyes, France, and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church for her unwavering faith and sacrifice.
In the 19th century, Alene was the name of a character in the novel "The Valley of a Thousand Hills" by Scottish author Henry Rider Haggard, published in 1900. The character, Alene, was a beautiful and strong-willed woman who played a significant role in the story.
Alene was also the name of a French painter and engraver, Alene Jacquerie, who lived from 1868 to 1934. She was known for her portraits and landscapes, and her works were exhibited in several prestigious galleries in Paris during her lifetime.
Another notable individual with the name Alene was Alene Moyer, an American painter and printmaker born in 1914. She was known for her abstract expressionist works and was a prominent figure in the New York art scene during the mid-20th century.
People
Alene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alene 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
Alene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,274 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alene 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 150,728 US residents.
Is Alene a common name?
We classify Alene as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,748 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alene most popular?
The single biggest year for Alene was 1920, when 264 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alene is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,052 people with the name Alene, or 1.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,569 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 Alene 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 Alene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alene appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,044 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Alene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alene is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Black (17.2%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Alene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.3% (2,146 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 Alene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alene a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Alene 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 Alene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alene 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 Alene 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 named Alene?
Find out how many people share the name Alene on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.