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Alley

#10,968 in 2025Girls' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Alley has been given to 1,120 babies in the U.S. since 1915. In 2025 it ranked #10,968 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2006, with 66 recorded.

Babies named Alley, 2025

1 in 414,000

Alley over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Alley: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Alley means

Alley is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Alley is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,078 girls were recorded with the name Alley between 1915 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 66 in 2006; its best national rank was #2,704 in 2006.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,091 in 2020 to #10,968 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,293 in 2015 to #10,968 in 2025.

In the United States, 42 boys were recorded with the name Alley between 1914 and 1930. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1914; its best national rank was #2,657 in 1914.

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 Alley?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 201,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#10,968
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Alley sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Alley. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Alleys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Alley was born before 2006 — so the typical Alley is around 19 today.

Median birth year
2006
About 19 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
42.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
73.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,072
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 42.7% of all recorded uses (460).

Is Alley 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
−2,004
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−4,877
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−5,675
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.32×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
12.1%
Peak was 2006 (66)
Years since peak
19
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
20.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,704
2006

Spellings of Alley

Alley is not the most common spelling — Ashley is, with 34.0% against Alley's 0.04%.

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 Alley is used

Across 1910–2025, Alley was most concentrated in North Carolina — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 397,029 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1North Carolina1 in 100,000
  2. 2Tennessee1 in 100,000
  3. 3California1 in —
  4. 4Georgia1 in —
  5. 5Missouri1 in —
  6. 6South Carolina1 in —
  7. 7Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Alley has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Alley around the world

Where Alley 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.

  • Canada
    1999–2012
    #3,249
    in 2012
  • South Australia
    2010–2010
    #801
    in 2010

Popularity data from Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Alley by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#10,968
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 4,877
Best rank ever
#2,704
2006
Peak year
2006
66 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,078
Count in 2025
8

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,657
1914
Peak year
1914
7 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
1930
All-time count
42
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Alley

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

AlleeAllynAllaAlluraAlliaAlliahIsleyAllureAileyAllenaAtleyArleyAlloraAllisynAllisKyleyAllanahAllenAllanaAllianaEileyAlliAisleyZailey

Sibling names for Alley

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 Alley

Top names of 2006, Alley's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2006Girls' names starting with A