MEANING & CONTEXT
What does Ali mean?
ʿAlī is an Arabic adjective from the height-and-elevation root and differs from Indic names beginning with āli or ali. The Arabic root ʿ-l-w conveys height or elevation.
Meaning themes
Spellings in Indian scripts
Devanagari
अली
Conventional spelling
Arabic
علي
Conventional spelling
HISTORICAL VOTER RECORDS
Ali in Indian usage
149,675 historical electoral-roll records, chiefly adults, rather than current baby-name rankings.
Mostly recorded for boys (88.7%) in these historical records.
- Recorded as female: 16,944 records (11.3%).
- Recorded as male: 132,731 records (88.7%).
By birth decade
| Birth decade | Records |
|---|---|
| 1930s | 3,353 |
| 1940s | 9,868 |
| 1950s | 18,514 |
| 1960s | 25,960 |
| 1970s | 31,333 |
| 1980s | 37,140 |
| 1990s | 22,757 |
| Other decades | 750 |
By state or territory
| State / territory | Records |
|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh | 50,654 |
| Maharashtra | 28,097 |
| Bihar | 21,869 |
| Kerala | 19,467 |
| Rajasthan | 4,914 |
| Jharkhand | 4,673 |
| Haryana | 3,637 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 2,716 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 2,716 |
| Delhi | 2,607 |
| Odisha | 2,192 |
| Uttarakhand | 1,788 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 888 |
| Punjab | 813 |
| Gujarat | 473 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 421 |
| Assam | 362 |
| Nagaland | 305 |
| Meghalaya | 228 |
| Tripura | 199 |
| Karnataka | 156 |
| Goa | 112 |
| Manipur | 110 |
| Other states | 278 |
How to read these numbers
Small counts and a second count where needed are withheld for privacy; an omitted value is not zero. Coverage, dates and suppression.
Recorded abroad
Official births registered in 2025, for the exact spelling shown.
| Jurisdiction | Spelling / recorded sex | Births | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| England & Wales | Ali / M | 502 | 103 |
| Scotland | Ali / M | 34 | 132 |
ONS and National Records of Scotland; Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3. Counts follow each office’s publication rules.
Explore related lists
Documented namesakes
Ali Khan Samsudin
Malaysian snake charmer
Ali Hamsa
13th chief secretary to the government of Malaysia
Sources
- Given-name entry (Wikidata): Ali (Q11905003) ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Given-name spelling
- Given-name entry (Wikidata): Ali (Q96652184) ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Given-name spelling
- Historical Indian voter-record totals, v3 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Historical usage; CC0 1.0; birth years 1910–2001
- England & Wales 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Ali; Table_6, C108 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Ali; Table_6, C108
- Scotland 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Ali; full-list-1974-2025.csv; 2025 Boy ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Ali; full-list-1974-2025.csv; 2025 Boy
- Wiktionary: Ali ↗ (opens in a new tab)
meaning
Adapted dictionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0.