Allen

What Allen means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Allen yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1951, with 5,179 babies; 507 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Allen?

US: Falling: down from #349 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #2319 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1947, when 5,075 boys got the name (#73 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 3,369 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 45,323 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in LA (0.89 per 1,000 boys), MS (0.74 per 1,000 boys), NE (0.68 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Allen is #578 in the US and #3256 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Allen were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Alan1,915 US · 72 E&W
• Allan223 US · 5 E&W
• Aylan72 US · 15 E&W
• Alain44 US
• Alen36 US · 4 E&W
• Olen33 US
• Alwyn13 US · 12 E&W
• Alon18 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Allen

Boys

• Kenneth#294“handsome”^*
• Shawn#681“God is gracious”^*
• Shane#635“God is gracious”^*
• Ryan#99Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 29,905 babies; 3,532 in 2025
• Kevin#221“dear birth/person”^*
• Brian#339Same root as Brendan, meaning “prince, king”^*

For a sister

• Jennifer#586Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1972, with 63,600 babies; 501 in 2025
• Megan#887Diminutive of Margaret, meaning “pearl”^*
• Bridget#724Editor’s note Down from #534 in 2015 to #724 in 2025 in the US
• Briana#661Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1994, with 5,000 babies; 431 in 2025
• Jenna#679Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 6,436 babies; 418 in 2025
• Morgan#312Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #121 in 2015, #312 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Allen’s. Rank is US 2025.