Humanverse

Allan vs Allene

American parents have registered 96,711 Allans since 1880, against 8,767 Allenes. Allan is still ahead, with 223 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Allan against Allene, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Allan Allene

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

Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Allan for 142 years and Allene for 4 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Allan Allene
Total US births 96,7118,767
Most in one year 2,192317
Babies in 2025 2237
Estimated living today 57,0002,100
Median age today 5974
Peak year 19471926
Best rank 132nd boys383rd girls
Rank in 2025 1,012th11,932nd
First recorded 18801881
Girls / boys 253 / 96,4588,762 / 5

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 Allenes alive today are over 74; half the Allans are over 59. That is 15 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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