View Message

I always and instinctively think: Alison. Even though, when I was at school, there were two Allison people and one Alison in my class. Allison is needlessly complicated, and the one-L version shows the name's origin as a diminutive for Alice very clearly. If I recall, two of them were sometimes called Allie and one of the Allisons never had a nn. Doesn't Allison derive from 'son of Alexander'? It certainly is a lnfn, but they aren't much of a fad where I live; not yet, anyway.

---

I love Alison! It's unusable for family reasons - DH had a really odd aunt - so I'd have settled for Alice if anything, but Alison is just as good.

I like it with this spelling. It reminds me of Alison Bechdel. Allison is probably more popular due to its visual similarity to other popular surname names like Addison.

My sister in law goes by Al. Alison is my favourite spelling and always my automatic go to spelling.

I've had two notable women in my life with this name: one was an Alison with 1 L and one was an Allyson with a Y. I think my favorite spelling is still Allison regardless though it just seems the easiest as its most people's go to spelling. The Allyson I know was named for an Actress with that spelling called Ally though I can't remember which one... which is funny because both women exclusively go by Allison and Not Ally l except by people that do not know them well. I don't have any strong opinions here there either way. I like it in whole and I like the NN Ally.

I think Allison became more popular because it more naturally leads to Allie. I like Alison this spelling, and I also like Allie. I had a friend Alison, but I’ve known more Allisons.

---

I think it’s a neat, trim little name. I see why it got so popular. And Alison would naturally lead to Ali which is less appealing because it’s ambiguous (could be the boy’s name). If I had one I’d name her Alison and call her Allie not Ali or just Alison.

---

Allie/Ali/Ally definitely avoidable!

This message was edited 5/29/2021, 11:22 AM

I wonder if Peyton Place had anything to do with it. That book/movie/soap opera was apparently quite influential and there was an Allison character in it. Although it wasn't around in the 80's when Allison really reigned supreme, so I'm not sure!

---

Maybe the double L just seemed more "feminine" and more easily lent itself to Allie nicknames rather than Ali?

---

I've known plenty of Alisons that were never Als or Allies, just Alisons, it never seemed to be an issue. And I automatically spell it with just one L, that version is more familiar to me.

Alison looks weird. I personally would not assume that spelling, if I heard it. Maybe the pronunciation seemed more ambiguous to someone at some point: I suppose it could look like it rhymes with bison...and there's the French pronunciation; I bet English speakers typically said it differently, so differentiated with spelling eventually, and then there was overlap with the surname. Plus Ali looks like Arabic.

---

I've always thought Allison (whatever spelling) sounded stodgy, even when I was a kid.

---

I think "AL-ee" is a very likeable NN, whatever the spelling (my preference would be Aly). Sure, you could use Alison without it.

This message was edited 5/29/2021, 7:56 AM

Ally Allie is definitely unavoidable. I know 2 that go by Alison. Allie is usually Alexandra.

Allison is also a surname when it is spelled that way so maybe that's how it got to be more popular?
I'd use it. I don't think Allie is unavoidable.