How rare is the name Alpha?

4,116 people in the United States have the first name Alpha, about 1 in 73,380. It ranks #4,500 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ALPHA

#4,500

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
4,116
About
1 in 73,380
This common or more
84.1%
Who bears it

Of the 4,116 people named Alpha, 55.3% reported their origin as Black, 27.3% as White and 7.3% as Hispanic or Latino. 59.6% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Alpha peaked in 1917, when 230 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1917
Births that year
230
In 2025*
77 ▼67%
Recorded as
mostly female

At least 10,045 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Alpha by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1890s, when it ranked #514. The largest share of babies named Alpha, 40.6%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#537451
1890s#514767
1900s#550896
1910s#7721,770
1920s#9781,751
1930s#1,2201,022
1940s#1,757665
1950s#2,724397
1960s#3,928242
1970s#4,677246
1980s#6,857178
1990s#6,955247
2000s#5,510479
2010s#5,552514
2020s#4,473420
Before 190113%
Greatest Generation 1901–2740.6%
Silent Generation 1928–4516.8%
Baby boom 1946–647.9%
Generation X 1965–803.6%
Millennials 1981–962.9%
Generation Z 1997–127.2%
2013 and later8.1%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Alpha is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Alpha has been most common in Kentucky (8.7×), Oklahoma (6.6×), and Arkansas (5.1×), and least common in California (0.14×).

3,585 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Alpha

#4,498 Rufina · 4,118#4,499 Retha · 4,117#4,501 Reena · 4,115#4,502 Marquez · 4,114

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Alpha, most common first.

#14,230 Alpa · 831#43,791 Alphia · 160

Also a last name

As a last name, Alpha ranks #46,089 of 156,621, with 499 people. See Alpha as a last name

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