Alyce
Of Old German origin, meaning "noble and exalted".
Name Census estimates that about 5,990 living Americans carry the first name Alyce. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alyce today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alyce births was 1921 (503 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alyce. 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 Alyce with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.0K
~ 1 in 57,221 Americans
Peak year
1921
503 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,505
Tracked since 1880
Census
Alyce in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,577 people with the first name Alyce, which placed it at #2,966 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
#2,966
National first-name rank
People counted
7.6K
7,577 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alyce
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alyce is White at 77.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Alyce 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 Alyce at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.5% · 5,869
- Black or African American12.1% · 920
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 347
- Two or more races2.9% · 221
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 137
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 83
Popularity
Alyce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alyce 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 3,803 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
Alyce 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 Alyce during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alyces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Alyce, while Utah, New Mexico, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 245 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alyce
The name Alyce is derived from the Old French name Aliz, which was a medieval form of the Germanic name Adalheidis. This name is composed of the words "adal," meaning "noble," and "heid," meaning "kind" or "sort." It was introduced to England by the Normans after the Norman Conquest in 1066.
The name Alyce was particularly popular in medieval England, appearing in various literary works and historical records from that time period. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is in the 13th-century poem "Ancrene Wisse," which was written for a group of religious women known as anchoresses.
In the 14th century, the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer featured a character named Alyce in his famous work, "The Canterbury Tales." This particular Alyce was portrayed as a strong-willed and independent woman who defied societal norms of the time.
One of the most notable historical figures named Alyce was Alyce Batteley, who lived in England during the 16th century. She was a prominent Puritan and is known for her religious writings, including a treatise on the importance of female education.
During the Renaissance period, the name Alyce was associated with intellectualism and literary pursuits. Alyce Cooke, an English writer and translator who lived in the 16th century, was known for her translations of classical works from Latin and Greek.
In the 17th century, Alyce Freeman was a notable Quaker minister and writer from England. She traveled extensively, preaching and writing about her religious beliefs, and her works were widely read during her lifetime.
Another significant figure with the name Alyce was Alyce Clapp, an American educator and activist who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was a pioneering advocate for women's rights and worked tirelessly to promote educational opportunities for women.
People
Alyce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alyce 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
Alyce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alyce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,990 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alyce 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 57,221 US residents.
Is Alyce a common name?
We classify Alyce as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,500 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alyce most popular?
The single biggest year for Alyce was 1921, when 503 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alyce is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alyce in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,577 people with the name Alyce, or 2.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,966 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 Alyce 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 Alyce?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alyce appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,579 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 Alyce?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alyce is White at 77.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Alyce most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alyce in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.5% (5,869 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 Alyce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alyce a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alyce 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 Alyce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alyce 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 Alyce 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 Alyce as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.