Alaw
- Gender
- Girl
- Say it
- AL-ow
- Origin
- Welsh
- UK rank, 2025
- #1,868 for girls
Alaw is a girls' name of Welsh origin, meaning “melody, tune”. In 2025 it ranked 1,868th for girls in the UK (16 babies).
What does Alaw mean?
Welsh
“melody, tune”
In the Mabinogion, Branwen is buried beside the River Alaw on Anglesey.
Is Alaw a girl's or a boy's name?
Alaw is a girls' name. In 2025, it was given to 16 girls in the UK. Too few boys were given it to be listed.
How popular is Alaw in the UK?
- Rank in 2025
- 1,868th among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 16 about 1 in 17,000 girls
- Five-year trend
- Steady up 13% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 16 girls in the UK were named Alaw, making it the 1,868th most popular name for girls. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 2,268th. Its busiest year was 2001, with 21 girls.
Half of all the girls named Alaw in the UK since 1996 were born between 2005 and 2018, the years shaded on the chart below.
Among girls in 2025, it was 1,809th in England and Wales.
Alaw in the UK, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16 | #1,868 |
| 2024 | 15 | #1,953 |
| 2023 | 13 | #2,185 |
| 2022 | 17 | #1,794 |
| 2021 | 15 | #1,981 |
| 2020 | 12 | #2,268 |
| 2019 | 10 | #2,590 |
| 2018 | 17 | #1,810 |
| 2017 | 10 | #2,652 |
| 2016 | 16 | #1,941 |
| 2015 | 12 | #2,328 |
| 2014 | 12 | #2,320 |
| 2013 | 14 | #2,061 |
| 2012 | 16 | #1,914 |
| 2011 | 13 | #2,152 |
| 2010 | 10 | #2,540 |
| 2009 | 16 | #1,763 |
| 2008 | 18 | #1,620 |
| 2007 | 13 | #1,964 |
| 2006 | 19 | #1,418 |
| 2005 | 16 | #1,521 |
| 2004 | 11 | #1,949 |
| 2003 | 6 | #2,877 |
| 2002 | 11 | #1,755 |
| 2001 | 21 | #1,070 |
| 2000 | 13 | #1,502 |
| 1999 | 8 | #2,089 |
| 1998 | 11 | #1,694 |
| 1997 | 14 | #1,387 |
| 1996 | 4 | #3,289 |
Names like Alaw
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Noa, Ava, Ayla, Willow, Ada, Layla, Aoife, Winnie, Maya, Freya, Alba, Hallie
Names related to Alaw
More Welsh names
Dylan, Owen, Maddox, Morgan, Idris, Reese, Bowen, Griffin, Rhys, Gavin, Reece, Nia, Seren, Gwendolyn, Winifred, Meredith
Sources
Figures from Baby names in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics), Babies' first names (National Records of Scotland) and Baby names (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Alaw: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/alaw, updated 20 October 2026.