Alys

What Alys means

Welsh, meaning “noble + character”

From Old French Alys, Alice, from Old High German Adalheid, from Proto-Germanic *aþalaz (“noble”) + *haiduz (“character”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Alys” (revision 90378019), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Alys?

US: Rising: up from #7266 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #585 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1880, when 5 girls got the name (#836 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 59,528 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 3,127 baby girls 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 FL (0.06 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Alys is #4878 in the US and #490 in England & Wales (2025).

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

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Alys were girls.

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

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Elyse286 US · 15 E&W
• Alyse54 US
• Alis34 US · 5 E&W
• Alyce38 US
• Alise29 US · 4 E&W
• Elis16 US · 9 E&W
• Aliz18 US · 3 E&W
• Aliss11 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 Alys

Girls

• Ailany#14Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #3,842 in 2015, #14 in 2025. 6 letters, starting with a vowel
• Amora#247Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #247 vs #733 in 2025
• Vera#205“faith”^*
• June#150From the word “name”^*
• Evangeline#147“good news”^*
• Aurelia#290“golden”^*

For a brother

• Atlas#75Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #487 in 2015, #75 in 2025
• Arlo#148Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #15 vs #148 in 2025
• Tatum#202Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #585 in 2015, #202 in 2025
• Elliot#151Variant of Elliott, meaning “my God is Yahweh”^*
• Kohen#295Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #295 vs #896 in 2025
• Ace#164Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #419 in 2015, #164 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Alys’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.