Diminutive of names beginning with Al- such as Albert or Alexander, meaning 'noble' or 'defender.'
Alley is a name with several possible genealogies, which is part of what gives it its informal, lived-in charm. Most directly, it functions as a phonetic spelling of Allie, itself the diminutive of Alice — a name that arrived in England with the Normans, descending from the Old High German Adalheidis, a compound of adal (noble) and heid (kind or type), effectively meaning "of noble kind." Alice enjoyed enormous medieval popularity, buoyed by the Countess of Salisbury and countless fictional bearers, before Lewis Carroll immortalized it in 1865 with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, one of the most culturally durable children's books ever written.
Alley also carries topographic associations. As a surname-turned-given-name, it evokes the English word for a narrow passageway — itself derived from Old French alee, from aler, to go — suggesting movement, connection between places, and the intimate geography of old town centers. Alley Pond Park in Queens, New York, gives the word a lush natural meaning, while "bowling alley" and "tin pan alley" locate it in distinctly American popular culture.
As a given name in its own right, Alley has worn an approachable, tomboyish ease. It peaked in popularity during the mid-twentieth century, often associated with the sunny, unpretentious femininity of that era. Actress Kirstie Alley, though spelling her name differently, brought it renewed visibility in the 1980s and 1990s through Cheers and Look Who's Talking. Today Alley reads as both vintage and refreshingly unadorned — a name that skips the elaborate and goes straight to warmth.