Alice
Meaning of Alice
Alice (pronounced AL-iss) has strolled through history with the quiet confidence of someone who knows a few secret doors. Born from the Old French Aalis—an heir of the Germanic Adalheidis—her meaning is “noble,” and that dignified core still shines even when she’s tea-partying with Mad Hatters. Anglo-American ears have treasured Alice for well over a century; she topped the U.S. charts in the 1920s, dipped for a spell, and now—sitting sweetly at No. 62 in 2024—she’s enjoying a fresh bloom without ever feeling faddish. Cultural touchstones abound: Lewis Carroll’s curious adventurer, Pulitzer-winning author Alice Walker, farm-to-table pioneer Alice Waters, and yes, the ever-helpful Brady Bunch housekeeper who could whip up comfort faster than you can say “meatloaf.” Together they paint a picture of imagination, intellect, and down-to-earth kindness. Easy to spell, easier to say, and backed by a century of steady use, Alice offers parents a name that feels at once storybook and boardroom ready—proof that a little girl can chase butterflies today and run board meetings tomorrow, no Cheshire Cat required.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as AL-iss (/ˈæl.ɪs/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Alice
| Alice Walker is an American novelist, poet, and activist who in 1982 became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Color Purple and has published widely across novels, short stories, nonfiction, essays, and poetry. |
| Alice Roosevelt Longworth, eldest child of President Theodore Roosevelt, was an American writer and socialite known for her unconventional life, a rocky marriage to Speaker Nicholas Longworth, and a daughter from an affair with Senator William Borah. |
| Alice Liddell - Alice Pleasance Hargreaves was an English girl whose childhood friendship with Lewis Carroll helped inspire the 1865 classic Alice in Wonderland, though scholars debate how closely the heroine is based on her. |
| Alice Freeman Palmer was an American educator who led Wellesley College in the 1880s and later served as dean of women at the University of Chicago. |
| Alice Phillipot, known as Alice Rahon, was a poet and painter born in France who helped pioneer abstract expression in Mexico with surrealist innovations and exhibited widely in the mid 20th century. |
| Alice Sebold is an American author of The Lovely Bones, The Almost Moon, and the memoir Lucky, with The Lovely Bones a New York Times bestseller adapted into a 2009 film. |
| Alice Frederica Keppel was a prominent British aristocrat and society hostess, best known as the longtime mistress of King Edward VII. |
| Alice Coltrane was an American jazz musician and Hindu spiritual leader known as Swamini Turiyasangitananda or Turiya. |
| Alice Merton is a British-based German-Canadian singer-songwriter best known for No Roots, with albums Mint 2019, Sides 2022, and Visions due January 16 2026. |
| Alice Catherine Evans, a pioneering American microbiologist, showed that brucellosis spread from cattle to humans, prompting milk pasteurization, and became the first woman to lead the Society of American Bacteriologists. |
| Alice Mary Barth was an English operatic soprano who sang with the Carl Rosa Opera Company and led the Alice Barth Opera Company in the 1880s. |
| British design critic and author Alice Rawsthorn wrote Design as an Attitude and Hello World, chairs the boards of Chisenhale Gallery and The Hepworth Wakefield, helped found Writers at Liberty, and was awarded an OBE for services to design and the arts. |
| Alice Beck Kehoe is a feminist anthropologist and archaeologist known for Northern Plains fieldwork with Native American communities and for influential books on Native American history, archaeology, and general anthropology. |
| Alice Irene Marble was an American tennis champion who won 18 Grand Slam titles from 1936 to 1940 and was world number one in 1939. |
| Alice Hoffman is an American novelist for adults, teens, and children, best known for Practical Magic and for blending magic realism with irony and unconventional love stories. |
