Humanverse

Alleen vs Allen

American parents have registered 273,662 Allens since 1880, against 957 Alleens. Allen is still ahead, with 507 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Alleen against Allen, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Alleen Allen

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

Allen has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1895, when Alleen had 12 and Allen had 196.

Side by side

  Alleen Allen
Total US births 957273,662
Most in one year 415,203
Babies in 2025 under 5507
Estimated living today 180166,000
Median age today 7656
Peak year 19211951
Best rank 1,205th girls72nd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked578th
First recorded 18931880
Girls / boys 957 / 01,866 / 271,796

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 Alleens alive today are over 76; half the Allens are over 56. That is 20 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: Alleen and Allen.