Allison

Where Allison comes from

From a Middle English diminutive form of Alan, Alexander or Alice + -son.
— Wiktionary's entry for Allison
  • Germanic
  • 3 syllables
Allison through the years
  1. 1908
    First appearance
    #1,862 among girls with 6 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1943
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name. From this year on, more girls have.
  3. 1959
    Allison Janney born
    American actress
  4. 1982
    Allison Mack born
    American former actress
  5. 2009
    Peak, #30
    6,581 babies named Allison, its best rank.
  6. 2020
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #80.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname, of mostly before 1950 usage.
  • A female given name from the Germanic languages, of 1940s and later usage, variant of Alison.
  • A community in Moncton Parish, Westmorland County, New Brunswick, Canada.
  • A number of places in the United States:
  • An unincorporated community in Nodaway County, Missouri.
Namesakes
  • Allison Janney · American actress, born 1959
  • Allison Mack · American former actress, born 1982
  • Allison Williams · American actress and producer, born 1988
  • Allison Schmitt · American swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, world champion, world record-holder, born 1990

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.