BabyNameScore

Alma

AHL·mah · 2 syllables

Alma feels distinctive without creating everyday friction in daily use.

88/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

  1. Pronunciation & Spelling

    Effortless

    A documented English pronunciation is on file: AHL-mah.

    91/100

  2. Everyday Use

    Low risk

    95/100

  3. Growing Up

    Strong lifetime fit

    Short enough to work in every register without a nickname.

    86/100

  4. International Use

    Broad international fit

    Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.

    85/100

NAME DETAILS

DOCUMENTED USE
Feminine
ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

Two parallel senses: 'soul' (the Spanish common word alma, from Latin anima) or 'nourishing' (from Latin almus), in the primary European lane; separately, 'young woman' (Hebrew עַלְמָה, almah) in a distinct Hebrew lane.

  1. almus (Latin, 'nourishing') and alma (Spanish, 'soul') for the European lane; עַלְמָה (almah) for the Hebrew lane.
  2. Mythological and religious contextIn the Hebrew lane, Alma corresponds to almah (עַלְמָה), a biblical Hebrew word for a young woman of marriageable age, which appears in several Hebrew Bible passages (including the much-discussed Isaiah 7:14). This is a separately attested lane from the European 'soul/nourishing' sense and is not asserted here as the source of the specific modern Scandinavian/Spanish-language given name.
POPULARITY

Alma over time

United States
#449RANK

Rank #449 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Uncommon in current U.S. usage. Ranked #449 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

AHL·mah

STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS
  • Alma (used identically across English, Spanish, Italian, German, and Scandinavian languages)
PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Simple, easy two-syllable name for a young child; classic enough (in continuous use since at least the mid-1800s) that it will not read as unusual to older relatives, while still feeling contemporary given its current top rankings abroad.

INTO ADULTHOOD

Short, classic, and internationally recognizable into adulthood; currently a top-ranked name in several Scandinavian countries, giving it a mature, well-established European register rather than a trendy-coinage feel.

Cultural Footprint

Alma is used as a given name across at least fourteen European languages (English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, and the Scandinavian languages among them) and is currently a top-10 name in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, making it one of the more internationally consistent names of this rank in the population.

More about Alma

FORMALITY

Alma functions as a complete given name in both formal and informal contexts across the languages that use it; no dedicated short form has developed.

EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Alma is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

A documented English pronunciation is on file. Short enough to work in every register without a nickname.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK

See how it works with a surname.

Alma