Allison

The name began as an Old French diminutive of Alice. It crossed into Scotland as both a given name and a surname meaning son of Ellis. American birth rolls recorded sporadic male and female bearers in the late nineteenth century. Postwar parents adopted it almost entirely for daughters, favoring the double-l spelling by the 1990s.

The name reads as someone who came of age between dial-up internet and smartphones. With the typical bearer now thirty-one, it summons Scholastic book fairs, CD binders, and damp Saturday soccer games. It avoids both the severe weight of heirloom names and the restless vowels of current kindergarten rosters. The name tends to be pictured beside an iced coffee, a fleece pullover, and three backup pens.