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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Boy's nameOrigin: of mixed originIn Israel: steady

AliIn Hebrew: עלי · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: עַלִיRomanization: Elí

Ali (Hebrew: עלי) is a boy's name of mixed origin. 22,278 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 508 boys and ranked #35. Its peak year was 2022, with 520 babies.

People in Israel
22,278
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
508
rank #35
Peak year
2022
520 babies
USA, 2025
1,116
rank #306

Writing and saying Ali

In Hebrew letters the name is עלי, read right to left. Ali is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "Elí" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • a male given name, Eli
  • a male given name, Eli
  • Eli (the priest who brought up Samuel)
From Proto-Semitic *ʕall-, *ʕaly- (“high; height, elevation”), from Proto-Afroasiatic *ʕal-, *ʕVl(ay)- (“to be high, tall; to rise; mountain”). Related to Arabic عَلِيّ (ʕaliyy, “to be high, exalted; Ali (exalted one)”), Maltese għoli.

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

Ali by year: Israel and abroad

How many boys out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

Ali: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Ali in English-speaking countries

Ali in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States20251,116#3062022 (1,124)
United Kingdom2025539#1082025 (539)
England and Wales2025502#1032025 (502)
Scotland202534#1322025 (34)
Northern Ireland20253#3952023 (7)
Ireland202525#1882025 (25)
British Columbia202317#2032018 (20)
Alberta202558#672025 (58)
Quebec202592#762015 (101)
New South Wales2025132#582014 (156)

Counts for boys. The Hebrew page for Ali has every year and the other spellings.

Questions about Ali

How do you write Ali in Hebrew?

Ali is written עלי in Hebrew (with vowel points: עַלִי). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "Elí".

How many people in Israel are named Ali?

22,278 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name עלי: 40 women and 22,238 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

Is Ali a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a boy's name: 99.8% of the people named עלי are men.

What does the name Ali mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "a male given name, Eli" Etymology: From Proto-Semitic *ʕall-, *ʕaly- (“high; height, elevation”), from Proto-Afroasiatic *ʕal-, *ʕVl(ay)- (“to be high, tall; to rise; mountain”). Related to Arabic عَلِيّ (ʕaliyy, “to be high, exalted; Ali (exalted one)”), Maltese għoli.

Is Ali used outside Israel?

The name Ali appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 1,116 boys were given it in 2025 (#306), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 539 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.