Okay. Most of the comments on this name's history and meaning are totally incorrect. Adelais, meaning "noble kind, " eventually morphed into the French/English Alice, and Alison is a medieval form of that name. The end.
-- Anonymous User 5/14/2006
Actually, Alison was originally a boys name (it meaning, quite obviously, Alice's son). It eventually became unisex and is now rarely used for boys.
Tacyla you are incorrect. Alison does not mean Alice's son and in fact it quite made me laugh. Does Madison mean son of Madi? hahaha. Anyway, Alison was a Medieval nickname of Alice revived in recent times. It's beautiful.
-- Anonymous User 1/22/2007
Alison comes from a diminuitive of Alice, hence Alison. The '-son' in this case does not denote anyone's son. However, in the case of Madison, it actually DOES have a 'son of' origin, the son of 'Mad' (from Matthew) or 'Maud,' and it was of course first a surname from this derivation, while Alison has always been a prename.
-- Anonymous User 6/8/2007
I have a friend named Alison. It is a French name which is a mix between the name Alice and Louise. Therefore, I believe it should be spelt Alison, with one L and an I. I nickname my friend Ali.
Just as Marion is a medieval French diminutive of Marie, so Alison is of Alice. If we look at it as Alis-on rather than Ali-son we can better appreciate why it's clearly not a name with masculine origins or a masculine vibe. The masculine origins if Addison, Emerson, Madison, by contrast, cannot be denied. Alison is sweet - those surnamey ones are far less suitable for a girl.
As a last name, Allison (and its variants) MAY have a different origin than the feminine first name--at least some sources indicate a (possible) "son of Alec" or some other "Al--" name). The single l spelling is obviously more closely linked to Alice (it's source name, according to most sources). The poster who compared the "-on" ending to that of "Marion" was quite right to do so. Of course, there are masculine Marions as well. (John Wayne was one of them--but of course, he was quick to change it.)