# Ali (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/ali/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Arabic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Arabic |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 60,002 |
| US rank (2010) | 559 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 5,146 people |
| Change since 2000 | +66% (36,079 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɑːli/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Aly, Alee |

## Etymology

From Arabic عَلِيّ (ʕaliyy, literally “high, exalted”), from the Arabic root ع ل ي (ʕ l y).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Ali in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 17% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 31% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 43% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 5.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Ali in the United States, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and British Raj.

## People named Ali

- Muhammad Ali, American boxer (1942–2016)
- Mahershala Ali, American actor (born 1974)
- Laila Ali, American television personality and retired professional boxer
- Tatyana Ali, American actress and singer
- Nadia Ali, American singer-songwriter
- Nia Ali, American athletics competitor
- Sophia Ali, American actress
- Nouman Ali Khan, American Muslim speaker
- Ulviyya Ali, Azerbaijani journalist
- Sadam Ali, American boxer
- Rahman Ali, American former heavyweight boxer
- Kecia Ali, American scholar of Islam

and 5 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Allie, Alli, Aly, Ale, Ayala, Alley, Aiello, Allee, Alloway, Ally, Ahl, Aul.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.