Alla
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "the most high" or "exalted".
Name Census estimates that about 476 living Americans carry the first name Alla. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Alla today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alla births was 1927 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alla. 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 Alla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
476
~ 1 in 720,072 Americans
Peak year
1927
25 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1992 SSA rank
#8,483
Tracked since 1880
Census
Alla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,622 people with the first name Alla, which placed it at #2,720 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
#2,720
National first-name rank
People counted
8.6K
8,622 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alla is White at 96.2%. The next largest groups are Black (1.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.0%). 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 Alla 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 Alla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.2% · 8,295
- Black or African American1.3% · 115
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 82
- Two or more races0.8% · 67
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Alla
Out of the 1,197 babies given the name Alla since 1880, 99.2% 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.
Alla as a male name
- Ranked #8,483 in 1992
- 5 male births in 1992
- Peak: 1986 (5 births)
Alla as a female name
- Ranked #15,292 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1927 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alla leans strongly female. 8,429 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 188 male bearers (2.2%).
Popularity
Alla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alla from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 208 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
Alla 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 Alla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Allas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, California, Washington recorded the most babies named Alla, while Arkansas, Washington, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alla
The name Alla has its origins in the Arabic language, derived from the word "Allah," which means "God" or "the Supreme Being" in Arabic. This name was commonly used in the Islamic world, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, from ancient times.
Alla is also a Scandinavian name, originating from the Old Norse word "ala," which means "to nourish" or "to give birth." This name was popular among the Vikings and Norse people, who lived in Scandinavia during the 8th to 11th centuries.
In the Christian tradition, Alla is considered a variation of the name Alia, which is derived from the Latin word "alius," meaning "other" or "different." This name was used in various regions of Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain, during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alla can be found in the Arabic historical text "Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh" (The Complete History), written by Ibn al-Athir in the 13th century. The text mentions several individuals named Alla, including a prominent Islamic scholar and jurist from the 8th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Alla. One of the most famous was Alla ad-Din Atsiz (1156-1233), a Turkic ruler and military commander who played a significant role in the expansion of the Khwarezmian Empire in Central Asia.
Another historical figure with the name Alla was Alla Pugacheva (born 1949), a renowned Russian singer and actress who has been a cultural icon in Russia since the 1970s. She is often referred to as the "Prima Donna" of Russian pop music.
In the literary world, Alla Nazimova (1879-1945) was a Russian-American actress and screenwriter who made a significant contribution to the early days of Hollywood cinema. She is credited with introducing psychological realism to American film acting.
The name Alla was also popular in ancient Scandinavian folklore and mythology. One example is Alla, the goddess of fertility and growth in Norse mythology, who was often depicted as a beautiful and bountiful figure.
Alla Kudriaitseva-Ralko (1887-1978) was a Russian painter and graphic artist who was known for her avant-garde style and her involvement in the Russian avant-garde movement in the early 20th century.
People
Alla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alla 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
Alla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 476 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alla 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 720,072 US residents.
Is Alla a common name?
We classify Alla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,197 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alla most popular?
The single biggest year for Alla was 1927, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alla is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,622 people with the name Alla, or 2.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,720 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 Alla 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 Alla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alla leans strongly female. 8,429 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 188 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Alla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alla is White at 96.2%. The next largest groups are Black (1.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.0%). 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 Alla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.2% (8,295 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 Alla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alla a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Alla 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 Alla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alla 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 Alla 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 Alla as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.