Ali is a well-established choice, ranked #103 in 2025. With 502 babies named Ali in 2025, meeting another Ali at school is a real possibility.
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UK Rank 2025
#103
US Rank #306
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About the Name Ali
Ali has seen a notable decline in recent years, dropping 5751 places in five years. It was most popular in 2002 at #123 — parents choosing it today are making a deliberately counter-trend decision. The name has been a consistent presence in UK records since 1996.
Ali is fairly common in the UK, so your child is very likely to be the only Ali in their class.
In the US it ranks even higher at #323, where it enjoys a particularly strong following.
⭐ Famous People Named Ali
Irfaan Ali — Mohamed Irfaan Ali is a Guyanese politician serving as the tenth and current president of Guyana since 2020.
Ali-A — Alastair Aiken, better known by his online alias Ali-A (or by his original alias Matroix), is a British YouTuber known for Call of Duty and Fortnite commentaries and vlogs.
Muhammad Ali — Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and activist.
Biographical summaries are shortened from Wikipedia and are used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence; those summaries remain available under that same licence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the name Ali
Possibly. With around 502 UK babies named Ali per year, your child may well come across another Ali at school, though sharing a class is less likely.
Ali is at its highest recorded position — #103 in 2025, with 502 births. In 2020 it ranked #141.
Ali is more popular in the US (#323) than in the UK (#5892). Names with strong rankings in both countries tend to have broad cross-cultural appeal, working well for international families or those with ties to both nations.
Notable people named Ali include: Irfaan Ali, Ali-A and Muhammad Ali. Short summaries for each appear below.
Ali appears in the US top 500 at #323 in 2024 — moderately popular in America, though less so than in the UK.
502
UK babies named Ali (2025)
< 1
Expected classmates with this name (class of 28)
< 1
In a school of 600
↑ 38 places
Rank change (last 5 years)
🏫 Who else is in the room?
In a typical UK class of 28, highlighted children share the name Ali
Almost certainly the only Ali in the class
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UK Popularity (1996–2025)
Rank and birth count · ONS official data
US Popularity (2020–2025)
Rank · SSA official data
✨ Similar names to Ali
Names with a similar style — each with their own classroom story
Alastair Aiken, better known by his online alias Ali-A (or by his original alias Matroix), is a British YouTuber known for Call of Duty and Fortnite commentaries and vlogs.
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Arabic: زَيْن الْعَابِدِين بْن عَلِيّ, romanized: Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn bin ʿAliyy, Tunisian Arabic: Zīn il-ʿĀbdīn bin ʿAlī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali or Ezzine, was a Tunisian politician, military officer and dictator who served as the second President of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011.
Ali ibn Abi Talib (Arabic: عليّ بن أبي طالب, romanized: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib; c. 600 – 661 CE) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from 656 CE until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam.
Ali Hosseini Khamenei was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the second supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination in the 2026 Iran war.