Girl · Germanic (via Old French) · International
Alice
AliceSay it AL-iss
- Meaning
- Of noble kind; from Germanic adal 'noble' and heit 'state, rank' Bosworth-Toller, entries 940 and 17808
- Say it
- AL-iss
- Other spellings
- Alyce, Alise
Alice
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Alice meaning
Alice is an international girl's name of Germanic origin (via Old French).
Of noble kind; from Germanic adal 'noble' and heit 'state, rank'
Alice is the English form of Old French Aliz, which etymonline traces to the Old High German name Adalhaid, our Adelaide. Its two parts are adal, "noble" or "noble family", and heit, "state, rank", so the name means something like "of noble kind". Both parts have Old English relatives in Bosworth-Toller's dictionary: æðele, "noble, excellent", and hád, "rank, condition, kind". Its most famous bearer is fictional: the girl in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Two syllables and no awkward sounds make it easy for Indian families.
Source: Bosworth-Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898), entries 940 and 17808 · entry æðele; hád · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
References: Online Etymology Dictionary, Alice · Bosworth-Toller, æðele · Bosworth-Toller, hád
Famous namesakes
- Alice, heroine of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Popularity abroad
- #65 United States, girls 2025 (down 2 from 63 in 2024)
US Social Security Administration - #52 England and Wales, girls 2025
Office for National Statistics
Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.
Spellings
Alice · Alyce · Alise