Humanverse

Alaila vs Alani

American parents have registered 18,910 Alanis since 1880, against 593 Alailas. Alani is still ahead, with 1,849 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Alaila against Alani, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Alaila Alani

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Alani has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1978 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1994, when Alaila had 10 and Alani had 18.

Side by side

  Alaila Alani
Total US births 59318,910
Most in one year 401,849
Babies in 2025 161,849
Estimated living today 59019,000
Median age today 115
Peak year 20202025
Best rank 3,676th girls161st girls
Rank in 2025 6,838th161st
First recorded 19941978
Girls / boys 593 / 018,799 / 111

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Alailas alive today are over 11; half the Alanis are over 5. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Alaila and Alani.