Alpha
Alpha is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 5 births. Its best rank was 301st, in 1881.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 50.00% of girls
- Peak year
- 1916198 births
- Best rank
- #301in 1881
- Since 1880
- 9,967people given the name
The story in the numbers
7,182 girls have been named Alpha in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1916, with 198 births.
The name has all but left use: 5 births in 2024, against 198 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1920, and the 1910s alone account for 21%. It has spent 63 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Alpha is used for both sexes: 28% of its bearers are boys (2,785), most of them born around 2024.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Alpha | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 361 | |
| 1890s | 704 | |
| 1900s | 828 | |
| 1910s | 1,537 | |
| 1920s | 1,494 | |
| 1930s | 837 | |
| 1940s | 540 | |
| 1950s | 276 | |
| 1960s | 150 | |
| 1970s | 133 | |
| 1980s | 90 | |
| 1990s | 95 | |
| 2000s | 57 | |
| 2010s | 42 | |
| 2020s | 38 |
In 1916, its biggest year
Alpha was the 451st most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1916 were Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1916.
Names that rose and fell with Alpha
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Hesterpeak 1918
- Dessiepeak 1918
- Altapeak 1918
- Lelapeak 1921
- Maepeak 1918
- Olapeak 1921
- Gertrudepeak 1917
- Artiepeak 1916
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.