Norman French diminutive of Alice — noble kind. Recorded as a surname long before it settled as an American girls' name in the 1940s.
Allison ranks 103rd among American girls in 2025, with 2,570 born that year. Its best year was 1994, when 8,163 babies were given the name, ranking 34th. The typical living American called Allison is about 31 years old today. It is relatively most common in Nevada, where it accounts for 0.16% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.