Alana is a moderately popular girls' name in England & Wales, ranking #209 in 2021 with 244 recorded births. The name reached its all-time peak in 2016 with 320 births ranking #172. Since 1996, the popularity has increased by 43.5%. In 2021, approximately 1 in every 1,123 girls born was named Alana. STABLE Recent data shows the name is currently stable.
Alana is a feminine form of Alan used in English and Breton. It has a soft modern feel, but its deeper meaning depends on the older name Alan rather than a separate root of its own.
Although Alana is now familiar as an independent girls' name, it belongs to the wider Alan family. That matters because Alan itself has an uncertain early history, with more than one explanation proposed by name scholars.