Alyson is a spelling variant of Alison, a medieval French pet form of Alice that goes back to the Germanic Adalheidis and means "noble" or "of noble kind". The y spelling became popular in the United States in the 1970s and is familiar from actress Alyson Hannigan. Alyson ranked number 463 in 2000, peaked at number 444 in 2003 and has declined since, leaving the top 1000 in 2020 and standing at number 1388 in 2025.