Alison
Top 1000
About Alison
Alison has been long popular in Scotland and widely used here since the fifties. This more feminine medieval elaboration of Alice had long surpassed the original in popularity, but now sounds a tad dated in the U.S., with Alice having leapfrogged back over Alison, Allison, Alicia and other variations.
Last year, about 650 baby girls were named Alison in the US, versus four times that many called Allison and five times that number, about 3300, named Alice.
Pronounced AL-uh-sun.
As of October 2026, Alison ranked #476 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #96 in 1986, Nameberry popularity #984.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #292 | 1,118 | 625.9 |
| 2015 | #339 | 967 | 541.7 |
| 2016 | #343 | 973 | 549.1 |
| 2017 | #383 | 816 | 472.6 |
| 2018 | #400 | 770 | 452.7 |
| 2019 | #413 | 758 | 451.6 |
| 2020 | #440 | 699 | 432.4 |
| 2021 | #475 | 658 | 401 |
| 2022 | #457 | 692 | 421.9 |
| 2023 | #471 | 653 | 407 |
| 2024 | #465 | 673 | 415.4 |
| 2025 | #476 | 644 | 400.7 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Alison.
- Caitlin
- Sara
- Megan
- Kathryn
- Danielle
- Leanna
- Sher
- Lauren
- Jenna
- Katelyn
- Nicole
- Chelsea
- Julianna
- Caitlyn
- Gabrielle
- Rebekah
- Allyson
- Allison
- Briana
- Carolyn
Alison on lists
Famous Alisons
- Alison Maria Krauss
American country and bluegrass singer
- Alison Ann "Ali" Sweeney
American actress
- Alison Marion Lohman
American actress
- Alison Elizabeth "Ali" Larter
American actress
- Alison Loren Sudol
American musician of A Fine Frenzy
- Alison "Ali" Hewson
Irish activist, wife of singer Bono
- Alison Margaret Arngrim
American actress
- Alison Courtney Pill
Canadian actress
- Alison Brie (Schermerhorn)
American actress
- Alison "Ali" Gertz
American AIDS activist
- (Geneviève) Alison Jane Moyet
English singer
- Alison Riske
American tennis player
- Alison Steadman
English actress
- Alison Weir
English novelist
- Alison Van Uytvanck
Belgian tennis player
- Alison Bechdel
American cartoonist
- Alison Bai
Australian tennis player
- Alison Brown
American banjo player
- Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp
English musician of duo Goldfrapp
- Alison Joy Leggatt
English actress
- Alison Wheeler
English singer of The Beautiful South
- Alison Laura Carroll
English gymnast, model and actress; model for Lara Croft
- Alison Jane Uttley
English children's author
- Alison King
English actress
- Alison Parker
American News Reporter shot on live TV
- Alison "Ali" Oetjen
Australian reality TV star
- Alison Eastwood (b. 1972)
American actress; daughter of actor Clint Eastwood
- Taylor Alison Swift
American singer and songwriter
Alison in pop culture
- Alison DiLaurentis
character in the Pretty Little Liars series
- Alison Hendrix
character in TV's "Orphan Black"
- Alison Humphrey
character in the Gossip Girl series
- Alison Robb
character in the Canterwood Crest series
- Alison Barrington Kovich
character in TV soap "Port Charles"
- Alison Mongrain
character in Spider,Man comics
- Alison Argent
character on TV's Teen Wolf
- Alison Bailey
lead character on TV's "The Affair"
- Alison O'Sullivan
character in the "St Clare" book series by Enid Blyton
- Alison Stanhope
title character in "Alison's House," play by Susan Glaspell
- Alison Findlay
main character in "Alison's Birthday," 1981 Australian horror movie
- Alison Ford
character in "Portrait of Alison," British movie and TV series
- Alison Poole
character in Jay McInerney's novel "Story of My Life", recurring character in Bret Easton Ellis's novels
- Alison Sedge
a character in The Deptford Mice trilogy of books by Robin Jarvis
- Alison Ashley
main character in "Hating Alison Ashley" by Robin Klein
- "Alison
" song by Elvis Costello
- "Alison
" song by Slowdive
- "Alison
" song by French singer Jordy Lemoine
- "Alison Hell"
song by Annihilator
- "Alison's Starting To Happen"
song by The Lemonheads
- "Alison's the Bomb"
song by The Huntingtons
- "Alison and Willie
" English folk song
- "Alison and Maud
" BBC radio comedy series