How popular is the baby name Ali in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Ali.

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Popularity of the baby name Ali


Posts that mention the name Ali

Most popular baby boy names (length by length) in the U.S. in 2023

Lengths of baby boy names in the U.S. in 2023

Going length by length (e.g., 2 letters long, 3 letters long, 4 letters long…), what were last year’s most popular baby boy names?

Before we get to the lists, a few quick facts:

  • The most common length for boy names in 2023 was 6 letters (used 29.38% of the time), followed by 5 letters (26.33%).
  • The length that increased the most in usage for boy names (from 2022 to 2023) was 13 letters.
  • The length that decreased the most in usage for boy names (from 2022 to 2023) was 7 letters.

Top boy names with 2 letters:

  1. Bo, 630 baby boys
  2. Ty, 331
  3. Cy, 75
  4. Aj, 64 (tie)
  5. Om, 64 (tie)
  6. Oz, 40
  7. Jj, 37
  8. Cj, 35 (tie)
  9. Ky, 35 (tie)
  10. Tj, 34

Top boy names with 3 letters:

  1. Leo, 8,120 baby boys
  2. Kai, 4,946
  3. Ian, 4,538
  4. Eli, 4,081
  5. Ace, 2,314
  6. Max, 2,197
  7. Jax, 1,155
  8. Koa, 1,115
  9. Ali, 1,065
  10. Ari, 964

Top boy names with 4 letters:

  1. Liam, 20,802 baby boys
  2. Noah, 18,995
  3. Levi, 9,347
  4. Jack, 8,683
  5. Ezra, 8,437
  6. Owen, 7,985
  7. Luca, 7,770
  8. John, 7,750
  9. Luke, 7,217
  10. Axel, 4,498

Top boy names with 5 letters:

  1. James, 11,670 baby boys
  2. Mateo, 11,229
  3. Henry, 10,941
  4. Lucas, 10,842
  5. Asher, 7,853
  6. Ethan, 7,763
  7. David, 7,354
  8. Mason, 7,237
  9. Dylan, 7,054
  10. Elias, 6,980

Top boy names with 6 letters:

  1. Oliver, 14,741 baby boys
  2. Elijah, 11,452
  3. Daniel, 8,356
  4. Samuel, 7,973
  5. Hudson, 7,935
  6. Joseph, 7,237
  7. Julian, 7,078
  8. Thomas, 6,598
  9. Carter, 5,847
  10. Jayden, 5,627

Top boy names with 7 letters:

  1. William, 10,598 baby boys
  2. Michael, 8,383
  3. Jackson, 7,284
  4. Matthew, 7,190
  5. Gabriel, 6,745
  6. Grayson, 6,449
  7. Anthony, 6,237
  8. Ezekiel, 5,569
  9. Charles, 5,395
  10. Cameron, 5,069

Top boy names with 8 letters:

  1. Theodore, 11,041 baby boys
  2. Benjamin, 10,172
  3. Maverick, 6,962
  4. Santiago, 6,328
  5. Jonathan, 4,066
  6. Leonardo, 4,012
  7. Jeremiah, 3,750
  8. Nicholas, 3,242
  9. Harrison, 3,060
  10. Giovanni, 2,911

Top boy names with 9 letters:

  1. Sebastian, 8,865 baby boys
  2. Alexander, 7,875
  3. Christian, 4,125
  4. Nathaniel, 2,507
  5. Alejandro, 1,825
  6. Remington, 1,184
  7. Francisco, 1,121
  8. Johnathan, 647
  9. Frederick, 595
  10. Valentino, 575

Top boy names with 10 letters:

  1. Alessandro, 555 baby boys
  2. Maximilian, 511
  3. Montgomery, 210
  4. Kristopher, 209
  5. Aleksander, 125
  6. Cristopher, 123
  7. Alexzander, 109
  8. Fitzgerald, 63 (tie)
  9. Theophilus, 63 (tie)
  10. Abdirahman, 50

Top boy names with 11 letters:

  1. Christopher, 5,171 baby boys
  2. Maximiliano, 1,143
  3. Muhammadali, 108
  4. Constantine, 104
  5. Abdulrahman, 103
  6. Maximillian, 63
  7. Abdurrahman, 42
  8. Miguelangel, 38
  9. Bartholomew, 33
  10. Johnmichael, 30

(I’m excluding the longer names because they’re quite rare overall.)

Source: SSA

Popular baby names in Turkey, 2022

Flag of Turkey
Flag of Turkey

The transcontinental country of Turkey shares land borders with eight other nations: two (Greece and Bulgaria) on the European side and six (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria) on the Asian side.

In 2022, Turkey welcomed 1,035,795 babies — 48.6% were girls, and 51.4% were boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Zeynep and Alparslan.

Here are Turkey’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Zeynep (has ranked either #1 or #2 for girls since 1999)
  2. Asel (entered the top 100 in 2016; entered the top 10 in 2018)
  3. Defne
  4. Zümra
  5. Elif
  6. Asya
  7. Azra
  8. Nehir
  9. Eylül
  10. Ecrin
  11. Elisa
  12. Masal
  13. Meryem
  14. Lina
  15. Ada
  16. Eslem
  17. Ebrar
  18. Ela
  19. Miray
  20. Zehra
  21. Yagmur
  22. Duru
  23. Gökçe (pronounced gok-cheh)
  24. Alya
  25. Günes (pronounced goo-NESH)
  26. Buglem
  27. Efnan (entered the top 100 in 2022)
    • The sudden trendiness of Efnan is likely due to the Turkish drama Aziz (2021-2022), which featured a character named Efnan. If this series ends up airing in the U.S. in Spanish (as other Turkish dramas have recently), we may see Efnan pop up the U.S. data soon as well.
  28. Ikra
  29. Esila
  30. Kumsal
  31. Öykü
  32. Ipek
  33. Arya
  34. Mira
  35. Sare
  36. Hiranur
  37. Nisa
  38. Melisa
  39. Ayse
  40. Aysima
  41. Umay (entered the top 100 in 2020)
  42. Melek
  43. Inci
  44. Eliz (entered the top 100 in 2021)
  45. Ahsen
  46. Yüsra
  47. Beren
  48. Erva
  49. Fatma
  50. Belinay

Boy Names

  1. Alparslan (entered the top 100 in 2016)
  2. Yusuf (has ranked either #1 or #2 for boys since 2002)
  3. Miraç
  4. Göktug
  5. Ömer Asaf
  6. Eymen
  7. Ömer
  8. Aras
  9. Mustafa
  10. Ali Asaf
  11. Kerem
  12. Ali
  13. Çinar
  14. Hamza
  15. Metehan
  16. Ahmet
  17. Poyraz
  18. Muhammed
  19. Mehmet
  20. Muhammed Ali
  21. Yigit
  22. Atlas
  23. Ayaz
  24. Mert
  25. Emir
  26. Umut
  27. Miran
  28. Alperen
  29. Kuzey
  30. Ibrahim
  31. Yunus Emre
  32. Berat
  33. Deniz
  34. Yagiz
  35. Aybars
  36. Ege
  37. Doruk
  38. Eren
  39. Hüseyin
  40. Emirhan
  41. Hasan
  42. Furkan
  43. Enes
  44. Muhammed Alparslan (entered the top 100 in 2022)
  45. Burak
  46. Kaan
  47. Efe
  48. Rüzgar
  49. Muhammed Emin
  50. Abdullah

(Turkey’s baby name data consists of top-100 lists going back to 1980. So my notes above about names entering the top 100 only covers the last 43 years.)

The girls’ top 100 included Mihra (53rd), Neva (55th), Menesa (67th), and Asel Lina (79th).

The boys’ top 100 included Barlas (74th), Uraz (76th), Alp (87th), and Kivanç (96th).

The boy name Ragnar didn’t make Turkey’s top 100, but it did make headlines in Turkey in early 2022. That January, Güven and Sibel Arslan of the province of Diyarbakir welcomed a baby boy. They had agreed to name him Rüzgar (which means “wind” in Turkish), but Güven — a fan of the TV series Vikings — decided at the last minute to register the name Ragnar instead. Luckily, Sibel wasn’t upset about the switch, but she said she’d call the baby Rüzgar regardless.

Finally, here are Turkey’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Turkey (public domain)

Popular baby names in Finland, 2022

Flag of Finland
Flag of Finland

The sauna-loving country of Finland is located in Northern Europe and shares a border with three other countries: Sweden, Norway, and Russia.

Most of the people in Finland speak Finnish (85.9%), but the rest of the population speaks Swedish (5.2%), Sami (0.04%), or some other language (8.9%) such as Russian, Estonian, or Arabic.

Last year, Finland welcomed 46,809 babies. At the time the country released its baby name data (in mid-April), 46,486 of these babies — 22,742 girls and 23,744 boys — had been named.

What were the most popular names overall? Olivia and Leo.

Finland’s baby name data is broken down by language group, so let’s kick things off with the Finnish speakers…

Finnish speakers

Of the 37,365 (named) babies born to Finnish speakers in Finland last year, 18,261 were girls and 19,104 were boys. Here are the top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 276 baby girls
  2. Aino, 256
  3. Aada, 248
  4. Lilja, 238
  5. Eevi, 235
  6. Isla, 232
  7. Helmi, 227
  8. Venla, 219
  9. Sofia, 212
  10. Ellen, 210
  11. Aava, 209
  12. Hilla, 200
  13. Emma, 199
  14. Linnea, 194
  15. Pihla, 193
  16. Viola, 191 (tie)
  17. Kerttu, 191 (tie)
  18. Ella, 188
  19. Emilia, 156 (tie)
  20. Elli, 156 (tie)
  21. Enni, 148
  22. Seela, 136
  23. Hilma, 134 (tie)
  24. Hilda, 134 (tie)
  25. Elsa, 133
  26. Livia, 132
  27. Alisa, 131
  28. Alma, 128
  29. Oona, 124
  30. Ilona, 121
  31. Mila, 119
  32. Alina, 118
  33. Frida, 115
  34. Elsi, 114
  35. Matilda, 113
  36. Minea, 111
  37. Vilma, 108
  38. Mette, 105
  39. Aurora, 102
  40. Hertta, 101 (tie)
  41. Lumi, 101 (tie)
  42. Amanda, 100 (tie)
  43. Selma, 100 (tie)
  44. Viivi, 98
  45. Nella, 95
  46. Bea, 93
  47. Saimi, 89 (tie)
  48. Vivian, 89 (tie)
  49. Siiri, 87
  50. Stella, 86

Boy Names

  1. Leo, 376 baby boys
  2. Väinö, 364
  3. Eino, 349
  4. Oliver, 342
  5. Elias, 316
  6. Onni, 313
  7. Emil, 239
  8. Eeli, 225
  9. Toivo, 216
  10. Leevi, 210
  11. Noel, 199
  12. Hugo, 186
  13. Joel, 185
  14. Aatos, 184 (tie)
  15. Vilho, 184 (tie)
  16. Alvar, 181
  17. Eemil, 172
  18. Oiva, 169
  19. Otso, 159
  20. Nooa, 156
  21. Mikael, 154
  22. Aarni, 153 (tie)
  23. Viljami, 153 (tie)
  24. Niilo, 149
  25. Lenni, 148
  26. Luka, 144
  27. Daniel, 139
  28. Benjamin, 137
  29. Anton, 135
  30. Kasper, 132
  31. Edvin, 129
  32. Aaron, 128
  33. Viljo, 126
  34. Jooa, 121
  35. Julius, 120 (tie)
  36. Eetu, 120 (tie)
  37. Olavi, 119
  38. Aapo, 118
  39. Milo, 115
  40. Eelis, 114
  41. Lukas, 113
  42. Eemi, 112
  43. Leon, 111
  44. Matias, 105
  45. Urho, 104
  46. Rasmus, 101 (tie)
  47. Max, 101 (tie)
  48. Samuel, 99 (tie)
  49. Luukas, 99 (tie)
  50. Iivo, 97

Swedish speakers

Of the 3,157 (named) babies born to Swedish speakers in Finland last year, 1,552 were girls and 1,605 were boys. Here are the top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Saga, 29
2. Ellen, 23
3. Alva, 20
4. Emma, 19
5. Stella, 17
6. Edith, 16 (4-way tie)
7. Olivia, 16 (4-way tie)
8. Astrid, 16 (4-way tie)
9. Alma, 16 (4-way tie)
10. Elsa, 15		1. Oliver, 33
2. William, 28
3. Liam, 23
4. Anton, 21 (tie)
5. Emil, 21 (tie)
6. Edvin, 20 (tie)
7. Max, 20 (tie)
8. Hugo, 19 (tie)
9. Benjamin, 19 (tie)
10. Felix/Leon, 18 each (tie)

Other languages

Of the 5,964 (named) babies born in Finland last year to parents who speak something other than Finnish or Swedish, 2,929 were girls and 3,035 were boys. Here are the top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Sofia, 36
2. Maria, 26
3. Olivia, 22
4. Eva, 21
5. Emilia, 19
6. Mia, 18
7. Aurora, 17
8. Alisa, 16
9. Emma, 15
10. Aisha/Anna/Mira/Sara, 14 each (4-way tie)		1. Adam, 46
2. Elias, 30 (tie)
3. Muhammad, 30 (tie)
4. Mark, 29
5. Leo 28
6. Daniel, 25
7. Ali, 22
8. Mohamed, 18 (tie)
9. Noah, 18 (tie)
10. Liam/Martin/Oliver, 16 each (3-way tie)

Finally, here are Finland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Most popular children’s names – Digital and Population Data Services Agency, Olivia and Leo are still the most popular children’s names in Finland, Population and Society – Statistics Finland

Image: Adapted from Flag of Finland (public domain)

Where did the baby name Rajai come from in 1980?

Iranian politician Mohammad-Ali Rajai (1933-1981)
Mohammad-Ali Rajai

The name Rajai first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1980, and its usage increased in 1981:

  • 1982: unlisted
  • 1981: 13 baby boys named Rajai [peak usage]
  • 1980: 9 baby boys named Rajai [debut]
  • 1979: unlisted
  • 1978: unlisted

After that, though, it dropped out of the data again (and didn’t return until the early 2000s).

What was influencing the name in the early ’80s?

Iranian politician Mohammad Ali Rajai, who served briefly as Iran’s second president in 1981.

Rajai was born into poverty the early 1930s, and became politically active as a young man. He was involved in the Iranian Revolution (1978-79), which overthrew the monarchy (under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi*) and established an Islamic republic (under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini).

After Rajai was selected as Iran’s prime minister in August of 1980, his name started to pop up in the U.S. newspapers.

Those newspaper mentions became a lot more frequent the following summer. Rajai was elected president in late July, and he began his term in early August. But on August 30 — after less than a month in office — Rajai and many other government officials (including the new prime minister) were killed by a bomb blast in Tehran.

I haven’t been able to figure out the etymology of Rajai, but it could be related to the Arabic names Raja (meaning “hope”) and Rajiya (“hopeful”).

Interestingly, one of the 1980 babies named Rajai is former professional baseball player Rajai Davis (who played against Anthony Rizzo in 2016 World Series).

What are your thoughts on the baby name Rajai?

*Two of the Shah’s wives, Soraya and Farah, also had an influence on U.S. baby names…

Sources: Mohammad-Ali Rajai – Wikipedia, Mohammad Ali Raja’i – Britannica, Iranian Revolution – Wikipedia, Behind the Name, SSA
Image: Adapted from Banisadr & Rajai