What is Ali short for?
Ali is short for Alison, Alice and Alina, and it is a name of its own in the Arabic tradition. In 2025, 1,116 boys and 44 girls in the United States were given Ali as their full name, with nothing longer behind it, according to Social Security records.
The meeting point
The two meanings, "noble" and "exalted," are near-synonyms by pure coincidence.
Ali · Arabic عليّ, "lofty, exalted," the name of the fourth caliph (source)
Alison · an English short form of Alison or Alice, from the Germanic adal, "noble": Ali Larter was born Alison (source)
The names behind Ali
Each count is the number of children given that name in the United States in 2025, from US Social Security records. A name given to fewer than five children in a year is left out of the published file.
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