Entry № 460 · French origin

Allison Allison — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ AL-ih-son /
Gender
Girl
Origin
French
Meaning
"Noble"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Medieval

A name that means "noble".

Allison comes from the Old French Alison, a diminutive of Alice — itself from the Old Germanic adal, meaning "noble." In medieval France, Alison was a common girls' name; the name crossed to England with the Normans.

Allison rose dramatically in the U.S. in the 1970s and has stayed in the top 100 since then. The double-L spelling is now more common than the original Alison. Three syllables, classical roots, currently in the U.S. top 70.

Noble — a French name.

The name in its native script.

Allison
Transliteration
Allison
Pronunciation
/ ˈæl.ɪ.sən /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Allison stands.

Allison does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Allisons before her.

Real people
Allison Janney
American actress. Academy Award winner for I, Tonya (2017).
born 1959
Allyson Felix
American sprinter. Most decorated track and field Olympian in history (11 medals).
born 1985
In fiction
Allison Reynolds
Character in The Breakfast Club.
1985 film

Names connected to Allison.

The number behind Allison.

1

The Leader

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Allison reduce to 1, The Leader. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.