Alison (given name)
female given name
Alison is a female given name in English-speaking countries. It was originally a medieval French nickname for Alis / Alys, an old form of Alice derived with the suffix -on or -son sometimes used in the former French nicknames. The Middle English form was Alisoun.
The variant spelling Allison is the most common form in the United States. Other variations include Alisson, Allisson, Allyson, Allysson, Alyson, Alysson, Alicen and Alycen, with nicknames Allie, Alley, Alie, Ali, Ally, Aly, Al, Aley and Alli.
Allison also has separate, disputed roots as a family name. Men were named Allison from the transferred use of surnames as first names.
Alison, variant form Alizon, is also a French surname.
Popularity
The name is first recorded in Scotland in the 12th century. It was popular until the early 19th century and, spelled Allison, was the 45th most common name given to baby girls in the United States in 2005 (Allyson was #253; Alison, #259; Alyson, #468; Allie, #256; Ally, #656; and Alice, #414).
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16154105. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2005.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alison (given name)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.