Alita is a Spanish-flavored name, usually explained as a short form of Adelita, the diminutive of Adela, and so meaning "noble"; in Spanish alita also means "little wing". Its sudden rise in the United States coincides with the 2019 film Alita: Battle Angel, based on a Japanese manga. Alita was given to only a handful of girls a year before that, then jumped to number 1340 in 2019 and peaked at number 1256 in 2020; it ranked number 2257 in 2025.