Allis
A feminine English name meaning "promise" or "pledge".
Name Census estimates that about 217 living Americans carry the first name Allis. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Allis today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Allis births was 2019 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Allis. 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
217
~ 1 in 1,579,513 Americans
Peak year
2019
15 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,945
Tracked since 1924
Census
Allis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 331 people with the first name Allis, which placed it at #27,567 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
#27,567
National first-name rank
People counted
331
331 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Allis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Allis is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.1%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Allis 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 Allis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.6% · 204
- Hispanic or Latino15.1% · 50
- Black or African American10.6% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.3% · 24
- Two or more races3.0% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 8
Popularity
Allis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Allis from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 102 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Allis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Allis 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 Allis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Allis
The name Allis originates from the Old English language and can be traced back to the 11th century. It is derived from the Old English word "aelfric," which means "elf ruler" or "elf power." The name was initially used as a surname in England, but eventually became a given name in its own right.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Allis can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of a great survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this text, an individual named Allis is mentioned as a landowner in the county of Somerset.
During the Middle Ages, the name Allis was relatively uncommon, but it did appear in various historical records and documents. One notable bearer of the name was Allis de Gant, a 12th-century noblewoman from Lincolnshire, England, who was known for her charitable works and philanthropy.
In the 16th century, Allis Merrick, a prominent English merchant and trader, was born in 1540. He played a significant role in establishing trade routes between England and the Netherlands, contributing to the economic growth of both countries during the Renaissance period.
Another notable figure with the name Allis was Allis Robarts, born in 1628. She was a pioneering English botanist and one of the first women to make significant contributions to the field of plant taxonomy. Her detailed illustrations and descriptions of plants were highly acclaimed during her lifetime.
In the 19th century, Allis Shaler, an American geologist and paleontologist, was born in 1838. He made significant contributions to the study of the geology of the Appalachian Mountains and was instrumental in advancing the understanding of ancient life forms through his research on fossils.
While the name Allis has been relatively rare throughout history, it has maintained a unique charm and connection to its Old English roots. Its association with elements of nature, such as elves and botany, lends an enchanting quality to this name that has endured for centuries.
People
Allis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Allis 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
Allis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Allis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 217 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Allis 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 1,579,513 US residents.
Is Allis a common name?
We classify Allis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 231 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Allis most popular?
The single biggest year for Allis was 2019, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Allis 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 Allis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 331 people with the name Allis, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,567 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 Allis 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 Allis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Allis leans strongly female. 315 people counted with this name were female (94.6%), compared with 18 male bearers (5.4%). 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 Allis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Allis is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.1%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Allis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Allis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.6% (204 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 Allis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Allis a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Allis 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 Allis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Allis 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 Allis 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 Allis?
Want to know how many Americans are named Allis? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.