Alpha

maleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Alpha: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Alpha: Recorded every year since 2002, it reached #1,178 in 2017, and it stood at #2,443 in 2024.

1registrar recorded it
25times a registrar ranked it
23years from first to last
#1178highest recorded position
6groupings it qualifies for

Region

Rising

among girls in England and Wales · 2012–2021

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
2012	#5876
2021	#5581

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

RisingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among boys in England and Wales in every year from 2002 to 2024.

Official data for England and Wales, 2002–2024 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded2002
First recorded at #2254 among boys in England and Wales in 2002 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Boys
Highest recorded2002–2024
Highest recorded position: #1178 among boys in England and Wales, in 2017 (recorded 2002–2024).
England and Wales · Boys
Most recent2024
Most recently recorded at #2443 among boys in England and Wales, in 2024.
England and Wales · Boys

Alpha appears in 2 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Boys, which has ranked it in 23 years beginning in 2002, and has registered 246 births with the name.

Alpha across 2 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Alpha's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Boys	#2254 (2002)	#1178 (2017)	#2443 (2024)	23 of 23	246 (2002–2024)	23 (2017)
England and Wales · Girls	#5876 (2012)	#5581 (2021)	#5581 (2021)	2 of 10	6 (2012–2021)	3 (2012)

Alpha by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Alpha in England and Wales · Boys, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
2000s	74	8 of 10	9
2010sbusiest	118	10 of 10	12
2020s	54	5 of 10	11

Across England and Wales · Boys, the 2010s were its busiest decade, averaging 12 births a year.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Alpha appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Recorded in official data for England and Wales from 2002 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #1178 in England and Wales in 2017.

Alpha's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	male	#2443	9	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	male	#1799	13	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	male	#1609	15	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	female	#5581	3	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	male	#3017	6	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	male	#1935	11	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	male	#2104	10	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	male	#1875	12	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	male	#1178	23	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	male	#1627	15	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	male	#2150	10	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	male	#2079	10	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	male	#3822	4	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#5876	3	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	male	#1756	13	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	male	#1909	11	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	male	#2036	10	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	male	#1649	13	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	male	#1706	12	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	male	#2211	8	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	male	#1892	9	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	male	#1377	14	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	male	#1878	8	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	male	#2470	5	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	male	#2254	5	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 1 registrar between 2002 and 2024, ranked in 23 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #1,178, first reached in 2017.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 23 births, registered in England and Wales in 2017.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

3decades with a ranked yearRecorded in 3 decades →
23 yearslongest unbroken run of ranked years20 to 29 unbroken years →
1unbroken stretch — never absent from the recordUnbroken since it first appeared →
#2,443position in 2024, its most recent recorded year
23births registered in its largest year, 2017Under 25 births →

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Alp · #785, 20y
Alperen · #2259, 13y
Alphie · #2458, 14y
Alphonsus · #155, 16y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 1 registrar, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Leyland · #1178, 18y
Esmie · #1177, 21y
Millie-May · #1177, 24y
Raiyan · #1179, 25y

Also first recorded in the 2000s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 2000 and 2009.

Castiel · #1178, 16y
Leyland · #1178, 18y
Esmie · #1177, 21y
Millie-May · #1177, 24y

Alpha and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Alpha without appearing here.

Alpha moved ahead of

Glenn Compare
In 2022 they stood at #3017 and #2730 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2023 that had become #1799 and #4991.
Ole Compare
In 2021 they stood at #3017 and #3017 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2022 that had become #1609 and #4789.
Graham Compare
In 2023 they stood at #1799 and #1533 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2024 that had become #2443 and #5119.
Brent Compare
In 2014 they stood at #3822 and #3822 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2015 that had become #2150 and #4747.

Moved ahead of Alpha

Rune Compare
In 2020 they stood at #1935 and #2228 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2021 that had become #3017 and #2125.
Braxton Compare
In 2010 they stood at #2036 and #4678 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2011 that had become #1909 and #1398.
Aksel Compare
In 2017 they stood at #1178 and #1812 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2018 that had become #1875 and #1382.
Henrik Compare
In 2017 they stood at #1178 and #1247 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2018 that had become #1875 and #1382.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Recorded in official data for England and Wales from 2002 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #1178 in England and Wales in 2017. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Alpha

Alpha at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Alpha across 2 official records

Alpha by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Alpha appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 2000s

Alpha and the names beside it

Alpha moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Alpha

Alpha at a glance

Alpha across 2 official records

Alpha by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Alpha appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 2000s

Alpha and the names beside it

Alpha moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Alpha