Alinah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "sublime" or "high".
Name Census estimates that about 657 living Americans carry the first name Alinah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alinah today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alinah births was 2015 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alinah. 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 Alinah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
657
~ 1 in 521,696 Americans
Peak year
2015
50 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,155
Tracked since 1994
Census
Alinah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 400 people with the first name Alinah, which placed it at #24,171 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
#24,171
National first-name rank
People counted
400
400 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
63.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alinah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alinah is Hispanic at 63.8%. The next largest groups are White (12.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.0%). 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 Alinah 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 Alinah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino63.8% · 255
- White12.5% · 50
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.0% · 36
- Black or African American8.8% · 35
- Two or more races5.5% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Alinah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alinah 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 369 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alinah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alinah 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 Alinah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alinahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Alinah, while New York, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 73 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alinah
The name Alinah has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "Alina," which means "light" or "radiant." The name's popularity can be traced back to the Middle Ages when it was commonly used in the Middle East and parts of North Africa.
Alinah is a feminine name that holds a deep spiritual significance in the Islamic tradition. It is believed that the name is mentioned in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, although the exact reference is not widely documented. Some scholars suggest that the name may have been inspired by the Arabic word "Alin," which means "elevated" or "exalted."
The earliest recorded examples of the name Alinah can be found in ancient Arabic texts and historical records from the 7th and 8th centuries. During this time, the name was widely used among the Arab nobility and ruling classes.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Alinah. One of the earliest examples is Alinah bint al-Husayn (670-714 CE), a prominent Islamic scholar and poet who lived during the Umayyad Caliphate. Her works were widely celebrated and influenced the literary traditions of the time.
Another notable figure was Alinah al-Andalusiyah (1050-1120 CE), a renowned Andalusian poet and philosopher from the Iberian Peninsula. Her poetic works explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human condition, and she was widely respected in her time.
In the 12th century, Alinah al-Qurtubiyah (1130-1198 CE) was a prominent Muslim scholar and jurist from Cordoba, Spain. She was known for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her contributions to the study of Hadith, the recorded sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.
During the Ottoman Empire, Alinah Hatun (1590-1670 CE) was a renowned calligrapher and artist. Her intricate calligraphic works adorned many mosques and palaces throughout the Ottoman Empire, and she was celebrated for her mastery of the art form.
In more recent times, Alinah Iqbal (1915-2009) was a pioneering Pakistani educator and social activist. She dedicated her life to promoting women's education and empowerment, establishing numerous schools and educational institutions throughout Pakistan.
People
Alinah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alinah 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
Alinah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alinah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 657 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alinah 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 521,696 US residents.
Is Alinah a common name?
We classify Alinah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 663 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alinah most popular?
The single biggest year for Alinah was 2015, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alinah is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alinah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 400 people with the name Alinah, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,171 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 Alinah 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 Alinah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alinah appears almost entirely female. Of the 397 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Alinah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alinah is Hispanic at 63.8%. The next largest groups are White (12.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.0%). 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 Alinah most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Alinah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.8% (255 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 Alinah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alinah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alinah 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 Alinah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alinah 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 Alinah 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 common is the name Alinah?
See how many Americans are named Alinah on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.