The story in the numbers

316,525 girls have been named Allison in the United States since 1908, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1994, with 8,150 births — 0.46% of all girls recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 39 → 99).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1995, and the 1990s alone account for 24%. It has spent 79 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 50 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 3,819 boys have also been given it, 1.2% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Allison

145

227

236

680

4,554

16,525

34,159

62,328

74,431

59,965

48,993

14,276

In 1994, its biggest year

Allison was the 34th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1994 were Jessica, Ashley, Emily, Samantha and Sarah. See all of 1994.

Names that rose and fell with Allison

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

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.