Alice · Daily fortune

Alice is a feminine name used across English, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Czech, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch. Behind the Name derives it from the Old French name Aalis, a short form of Adelais, itself a short form of the Germanic Adalheidis (the source of Adelaide); Wikipedia glosses those Germanic elements as "noble" and "appearance; kind", giving "of noble character or rank". The name became popular in France and England in the 12th century, was among the commonest English names until the 16th, declined, and was revived in the 19th century, when Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) made it famous. In the United States it ranked #65 for girls in 2025.

Behind the Name derives Alice "from the Old French name Aalis, a short form of Adelais, itself a short form of the Germanic name Adalheidis (see Adelaide)" and lists its roots as the Germanic elements aþal/adal and haidu/heit. Wikipedia gives the same chain ("Alice is a form of the Old French name Alis / Alys (older Alais), short form of Adelais"), traces it to Old High German Adalhaidis, and glosses the two Proto-Germanic elements as "noble" and "appearance; kind", yielding "of noble character or rank, of nobility". The sources agree on every step; the only variation is in how the Old French spelling is rendered (Aalis versus Alis / Alys / Alais). Wikipedia also mentions a Hebrew name עליזה (Aliza) meaning "cheerful" as a variant; this is a separate name that happens to resemble Alice in sound rather than a competing origin, and Behind the Name does not list it.

Behind the Name gives the outline: the name "became popular in France and England in the 12th century", "was among the most common names in England until the 16th century, when it began to decline", and "was revived in the 19th century". Wikipedia fills in the revival. Alice was popular in the Victorian era because of Princess Alice (1843–1878), a daughter of Queen Victoria, and was popularized further by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871), whose heroine was based on the real Alice Liddell (1852–1934). In the United States, Wikipedia says the name was most popular in the Victorian era and at the turn of the 20th century, when Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, was occasionally called "Princess Alice" in the press and inspired the song "Alice Blue Gown". After a long mid-century decline it has come back: Wikipedia reports a US resurgence beginning around 2000 or 2010 depending on the source, top-100 placings in 2015 across Australia, Belgium, France, Canada, Ireland and all four UK nations (#24 in England and Wales), #11 in Canada in 2022, and top-ten appearances in Sweden and Italy in recent years.

Alice ranked #65 for girls in the United States in 2025 (Social Security Administration). Wikipedia describes the name as most popular in the US in the Victorian era and around 1900, with a resurgence dated to 2000 or 2010 depending on the source. Outside the US, Wikipedia reports 2015 top-100 placings in Australia, Belgium, France, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland (#24 in England and Wales), #11 in Canada in 2022, and recent top-ten appearances in Sweden and Italy. Only the US 2025 figure was verified against a primary source in this pass; the others are reported as Wikipedia states them.

Alice is unusual in being used with the same spelling across many languages, so the pronunciation shifts more than the letters do. Behind the Name gives English /ˈæl.ɪs/ (AL-is, two syllables), French /a.lis/ (a-LEES), Italian /a.ˈliː.t͡ʃe/ (a-LEE-cheh, three syllables), German /a.ˈliːs/ (a-LEES) and Czech /ˈa.lɪ.t͡sɛ/ (A-li-tseh, three syllables). It also lists the name as used in Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch, for which no pronunciation was given in the data consulted. The further entries below are the local forms Behind the Name lists under "Other Languages & Cultures"; their pronunciations were not verified in this pass.

Alice is a short classic with a literary glow: two syllables, no tricky letters, and a heroine everybody knows. It reads as gently old-fashioned rather than fussy, which is why it sits comfortably beside Clara, Eleanor, Iris and Hazel on vintage-revival shortlists. Because the same spelling is used from Sweden to Italy to Brazil, it travels better than most English classics, and the wider Alicia / Alyssa / Alison family gives it an unusually broad set of siblings and near-namesakes.

Alice's namesakes run from a Victorian princess through a fictional heroine to a remarkable run of twentieth-century writers, reformers and artists. The entries below are restricted to bearers named in the consulted Behind the Name and Wikipedia entries.

Names that share Alice's Germanic "noble" root, its vintage literary register, or its clipped two-syllable sound.