Name Awesome

Alain

#2,835 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Alan

Alain has been given to 3,986 babies in the U.S. since 1942. In 2025 it ranked #2,835 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1988, with 92 recorded.

Babies named Alain, 2025

1 in 75,300

Alain over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Alain: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Alan

French

What Alain means

Alain is a form of Alan.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Alain → Alan. The family’s proposed meaning is “noble”, recorded in English with the source elements ail.

Origin, language, and formation

Alain is used in English, Basque, French and Old French. Its origins include French.

Alain comes through French Alain.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Alan.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Basque, Alain is pronounced /alai̯n/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,980 boys were recorded with the name Alain between 1942 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 92 in 1988; its best national rank was #997 in 1985.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,619 in 2020 to #2,835 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,300 in 2015 to #2,835 in 2025.

In the United States, 6 girls were recorded with the name Alain between 1976 and 1976. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1976; its best national rank was #8,173 in 1976.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Alain?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 75,300
44 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 38,800
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,835
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
52,226 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Alain sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 52,226 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Alain. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Alains were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Alain was born before 1992 — so the typical Alain is around 33 today.

Median birth year
1992
About 33 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
18.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
36.7%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
3,927
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 18.5% of all recorded uses (738).

Is Alain rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+382
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−216
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−535
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.77×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
47.8%
Peak was 1988 (92)
Years since peak
37
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
10.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#997
1985

Spellings of Alain

Alain is not the most common spelling — Alan is, with 23.3% against Alain's 0.25%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Alain is used

Across 1910–2025, Alain was most concentrated in Florida — about 1 in 7,692 boys, against 1 in 31,129 across all states with data. It was least common in Massachusetts (1 in —).

013 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Florida1 in 7,692
  2. 2New York1 in 25,000
  3. 3California1 in 33,333
  4. 4Texas1 in 50,000
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 100,000
  6. 6Arizona1 in —
  7. 7Illinois1 in —
  8. 8Kentucky1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Alain has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Alain around the world

Where Alain ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2015
    #3,908
    in 2015
  • Scotland
    1974–1988
    #271
    in 1988
  • Ireland
    1975–2004
    #506
    in 2004
  • France
    1900–2025
    #1,565
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1957–2012
    #771
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Alain

People whose public names include Alain, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Alain in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Alain. Linked forms have their own page here.

AlanAlanoAllanAllenAlunAlánAlanus

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Alain by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,835
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 216
Best rank ever
#997
1985
Peak year
1988
92 that year
First recorded
1942
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,980
Count in 2025
44

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#8,173
1976
Peak year
1976
6 that year
First recorded
1976
Last recorded
1976
All-time count
6
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Alain

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

AlaricBlainKainAdrainAlakaiIainShainBrainCainDainAlanzoAlaaZainAlamDwainAlanoRainAntwainAlarikAlastairHussainJermainAlannEfrain

Names with a curve like Alain

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Alain, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KendellBrandtVincenteMarcellAnibalArtemioFaustoBrittonChristosKendalAdalbertoHoracio

Sibling names for Alain

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Alain

Top names of 1988, Alain's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1985Boys' names starting with ABasque Boy NamesShort French Boy Names