How popular is “Alpha” in the USA?

Number of people named “Alpha” by birth year

This chart shows how many people named “Alpha” were born each year.

Due to changes to population growth and data collection rates over time, this isn't a good chart for understanding popularity.

Popularity of “Alpha” by birth year

This chart shows how the popularity of “Alpha” has changed over time.

Popularity is the number of people named “Alpha” born in that year divided by the total number of births for that year.

Bias in sex for “Alpha” by birth year

This chart shows how “Alpha” has been used as gendered name over time. The scale ranges from 1 (only females) to -1 (only males).

Sex is a required field in SSA's Social Security Card applications (only 2 options). Most applications are filed around a person's time of birth.

The raw data

This table shows the data used in the above charts.

Year	Count	Proportion	Females	Males	Bias toward female
1880	32	0.000158822	26	6	63%
1881	36	0.000186831	27	9	50%
1882	43	0.000194102	29	14	35%
1883	43	0.000198206	32	11	49%
1884	39	0.00016019	27	12	38%
1885	47	0.000195139	35	12	49%
1886	46	0.000180169	38	8	65%
1887	47	0.000189982	42	5	79%
1888	53	0.000176977	47	6	77%
1889	65	0.000224956	58	7	78%
1890	65	0.00021566	57	8	75%
1891	66	0.000230227	59	7	79%
1892	69	0.000206356	59	10	71%
1893	62	0.000190638	62		100%
1894	81	0.000239157	72	9	78%
1895	75	0.000213663	75		100%
1896	88	0.000246165	82	6	86%
1897	86	0.000247869	75	11	74%
1898	81	0.000212345	75	6	85%
1899	94	0.000277095	88	6	87%
1900	84	0.00018656	78	6	86%
1901	83	0.000240015	71	12	71%
1902	95	0.000245648	81	14	71%
1903	85	0.00022298	85		100%
1904	102	0.000252798	97	5	90%
1905	78	0.000183996	73	5	87%
1906	81	0.000189053	74	7	83%
1907	97	0.000208427	87	10	79%
1908	105	0.000214878	96	9	83%
1909	86	0.000168224	86		100%
1910	100	0.000169288	94	6	88%
1911	119	0.000184703	110	9	85%
1912	131	0.000132583	111	20	69%
1913	173	0.00015214	148	25	71%
1914	158	0.000111555	135	23	71%
1915	212	0.000115694	182	30	72%
1916	228	0.000117865	198	30	74%
1917	230	0.000114613	191	39	66%
1918	203	0.000093501	179	24	76%
1919	216	0.000102358	189	27	75%
1920	211	0.000093254	188	23	78%
1921	209	0.000089526	179	30	71%
1922	207	0.000090426	166	41	60%
1923	187	0.000081217	161	26	72%
1924	178	0.000074739	147	31	65%
1925	168	0.000072001	143	25	70%
1926	146	0.000063591	126	20	73%
1927	189	0.000081488	159	30	68%
1928	141	0.000062363	125	16	77%
1929	115	0.00005246	100	15	74%
1930	106	0.000047677	84	22	58%
1931	125	0.0000594	102	23	63%
1932	119	0.000056364	91	28	53%
1933	106	0.000053015	88	18	66%
1934	115	0.000055373	99	16	72%
1935	111	0.000053113	91	20	64%
1936	87	0.000041876	73	14	68%
1937	93	0.000043648	77	16	66%
1938	89	0.000040225	71	18	60%
1939	71	0.000032222	61	10	72%
1940	89	0.000038651	72	17	62%
1941	67	0.000027499	52	15	55%
1942	65	0.000023794	65		100%
1943	62	0.000021966	51	11	65%
1944	72	0.000026765	65	7	81%
1945	54	0.000020355	43	11	59%
1946	75	0.000023472	59	16	57%
1947	66	0.000018322	53	13	61%
1948	63	0.000018248	47	16	49%
1949	52	0.000014922	33	19	27%
1950	59	0.000016841	42	17	42%
1951	48	0.00001303	35	13	46%
1952	47	0.000012375	31	16	32%
1953	34	0.000008823	23	11	35%
1954	35	0.000008792	21	14	20%
1955	29	0.000007223	21	8	45%
1956	41	0.000009944	31	10	51%
1957	35	0.000008329	20	15	14%
1958	30	0.000007257	23	7	53%
1959	39	0.00000938	29	10	49%
1960	26	0.000006259	17	9	31%
1961	33	0.000007967	21	12	27%
1962	28	0.000006939	18	10	29%
1963	30	0.000007579	22	8	47%
1964	24	0.000006173	10	14	-17%
1965	28	0.000007723	20	8	43%
1966	23	0.000006617	11	12	-4%
1967	17	0.000005008	8	9	-6%
1968	12	0.000003552	12		100%
1969	21	0.000006043	11	10	5%
1970	24	0.000006655	17	7	42%
1971	27	0.000007866	17	10	26%
1972	24	0.000007636	10	14	-17%
1973	27	0.00000895	15	12	11%
1974	25	0.000008224	12	13	-4%
1975	22	0.000007286	11	11	0%
1976	23	0.00000758	14	9	22%
1977	19	0.000005981	12	7	26%
1978	28	0.000008822	13	15	-7%
1979	27	0.000008115	12	15	-11%
1980	19	0.000005516	12	7	26%
1981	22	0.00000636	11	11	0%
1982	18	0.000005131	5	13	-44%
1983	24	0.00000693	10	14	-17%
1984	17	0.000004873	6	11	-29%
1985	18	0.000005043	10	8	11%
1986	16	0.000004498	9	7	13%
1987	11	0.000003051	6	5	9%
1988	9	0.000002436	9		100%
1989	24	0.000006243	12	12	0%
1990	14	0.000003542	7	7	0%
1991	10	0.000002567		10	-100%
1992	7	0.000001822		7	-100%
1993	16	0.000004244		16	-100%
1994	13	0.000003497		13	-100%
1995	19	0.000005188	5	14	-47%
1996	49	0.000013435	34	15	39%
1997	39	0.000010756	22	17	13%
1998	39	0.000010603	19	20	-3%
1999	41	0.000011099	8	33	-61%
2000	48	0.000012699	13	35	-46%
2001	49	0.00001309	10	39	-59%
2002	38	0.000010165		38	-100%
2003	46	0.000012098	6	40	-74%
2004	38	0.000009945	6	32	-68%
2005	50	0.000013004	9	41	-64%
2006	57	0.000014408	6	51	-79%
2007	53	0.000013258	7	46	-74%
2008	50	0.00001272		50	-100%
2009	50	0.000013088		50	-100%
2010	44	0.000011906		44	-100%
2011	40	0.000010936	7	33	-65%
2012	38	0.00001039		38	-100%
2013	46	0.000012618	5	41	-78%
2014	43	0.000011602		43	-100%
2015	43	0.000011619		43	-100%
2016	69	0.000018808	8	61	-77%
2017	52	0.000014541		52	-100%
2018	55	0.000015643	5	50	-82%
2019	84	0.000024201	17	67	-60%
2020	73	0.000021853	7	66	-81%
2021	59	0.000017415	10	49	-66%
2022	69	0.000020395	8	61	-77%
2023	62	0.000018724	8	54	-74%
2024	79	0.000023734	5	74	-87%

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