Alyse
A feminine given name of French origin meaning "noble kind".
Name Census estimates that about 7,103 living Americans carry the first name Alyse. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alyse today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alyse births was 1988 (401 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alyse. 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
7.1K
~ 1 in 48,255 Americans
Peak year
1988
401 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,880
Tracked since 1892
Popularity
Alyse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alyse from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 1,892 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alyse 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 Alyse during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alyses live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Alyse, while South Carolina, Nevada, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 141 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alyse
The name Alyse originated from the Old French and Old German languages. It is a feminine form of the name Alis, which derived from the Germanic name Adalais. The name Adalais is composed of two elements, "adal" meaning noble, and "aid" meaning kind or sort. The name Alyse first appeared in the 12th century in medieval France.
Historically, the name Alyse gained popularity during the Middle Ages in Western Europe, particularly in France and Germany. It was a common name among the nobility and upper classes. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name was Alyse de Champagne, a 12th-century French noblewoman and regent of the County of Champagne.
In religious texts, the name Alyse is not found in any major scriptures or sacred writings. However, it is worth noting that Saint Alice or Alicia, whose name is a variant of Alyse, was a 13th-century Cistercian nun and mystic from Belgium.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Alyse. One of the most famous was Alyse de Vere, an English noblewoman who lived in the 13th century. She was a prominent landholder and heiress, known for her involvement in legal disputes over land inheritance.
Another notable Alyse was Alyse de Gand, a 14th-century French noblewoman and the mistress of King Edward III of England. She played a significant role in the Anglo-French negotiations during the Hundred Years' War.
In the realm of literature, Alyse is the name of a character in the 14th-century Middle English poem "The Boke of Cupide" by Sir Thomas Clanvowe, a work inspired by the Roman de la Rose.
Other historical figures with the name Alyse include Alyse de Savoie (1285-1323), a French noblewoman and the second wife of John II, Duke of Brittany, and Alyse de Montbéliard (1145-1224), a French noblewoman and the Countess of Auxonne.
The name Alyse has a rich history, originating from Old French and Old German roots, and was particularly popular among the nobility during the Middle Ages in Western Europe. It has been borne by several notable women throughout history, from noblewomen and regents to literary characters.
People
Alyse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alyse 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
Alyse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alyse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,103 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alyse 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 48,255 US residents.
Is Alyse a common name?
We classify Alyse as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,617 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alyse most popular?
The single biggest year for Alyse was 1988, when 401 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alyse is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Alyse a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alyse 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.
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.