Head to head · Boys' names
Alan vs Alejandro
#191 vs #195 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Alan is a whisker ahead (#191 vs #195 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Alan leads 5 measures of 6; Alejandro leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Alan #790, Alejandro #929 — Alan higher
- 1890s: Alan #539, Alejandro #1058 — Alan higher
- 1900s: Alan #401, Alejandro #996 — Alan higher
- 1910s: Alan #333, Alejandro #1273 — Alan higher
- 1920s: Alan #208, Alejandro #777 — Alan higher
- 1930s: Alan #114, Alejandro #691 — Alan higher
- 1940s: Alan #61, Alejandro #676 — Alan higher
- 1950s: Alan #44, Alejandro #567 — Alan higher
- 1960s: Alan #59, Alejandro #457 — Alan higher
- 1970s: Alan #113, Alejandro #241 — Alan higher
- 1980s: Alan #110, Alejandro #175 — Alan higher
- 1990s: Alan #144, Alejandro #106 — Alejandro higher
- 2000s: Alan #138, Alejandro #99 — Alejandro higher
- 2010s: Alan #165, Alejandro #167 — Alan higher
- 2020s: Alan #184, Alejandro #199 — Alan higher
Alan stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Alan has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Alan | Alejandro |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #790 | #929 |
| 1890s | #539 | #1058 |
| 1900s | #401 | #996 |
| 1910s | #333 | #1273 |
| 1920s | #208 | #777 |
| 1930s | #114 | #691 |
| 1940s | #61 | #676 |
| 1950s | #44 | #567 |
| 1960s | #59 | #457 |
| 1970s | #113 | #241 |
| 1980s | #110 | #175 |
| 1990s | #144 | #106 |
| 2000s | #138 | #99 |
| 2010s | #165 | #167 |
| 2020s | #184 | #199 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Alan
Not established
Every proposed origin has a problem. A Breton word for a rock, a Celtic one for a deer, a tribal name from the steppe, an Irish word about harmony — all have been argued and none can be shown. What is certain is the route: Breton followers of the Conqueror brought the name into England in the eleventh century, and it spread from their estates in the north. That is unusual in itself. Almost every other common English name arrived from Hebrew, Greek, Latin or Germanic sources, and this one came in sideways.
a Breton name of unrecovered meaning → brought to England after the Conquest → a Breton follower of the Conqueror builds the largest estate in England → steady English and Scottish use for eight centuries → an American peak in the middle of the last century
How it traveled
Alan Turing wrote a paper in the 1930s about an imaginary machine — a tape, a reading head, a table of rules — in order to settle an abstract question about mathematical proof. The machine was never meant to be built.
Alejandro
Defender of men
The Greek elements are a verb about defending and the word for men, and the reading is not disputed. Spanish arrived at its form by a regular sound change and the meaning traveled unchanged.
Alexandros → Alexander → Alejandro
How it traveled
A pope of this name, elected after a conclave that nobody has ever described as clean, had several acknowledged children, promoted them energetically, and in the year after Columbus returned issued the bulls that divided the newly encountered world between Spain and Portugal along a line drawn in the Atlantic. Portugal negotiated the line further west the following year, which is the reason Brazil speaks Portuguese.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Alan
AL-un
Two syllables, stress at the front, first vowel as in pal. Scottish and Irish speakers often give the second syllable more weight than English ones do.
- Al — The universal short form, shared with half a dozen other names and none the worse for it.
- Lan — Takes the back half; rare in English and ordinary in several other languages.
Alejandro
ah-leh-HAN-droh
Four syllables with the stress on the third. The j is said in the throat, closer to an h than to anything English writes with a j.
- Alex — The front clipped, understood everywhere and unisex in English.
- Jandro — The back of the name, the usual Spanish shortening.
- Ale — Said AH-leh, the commonest Spanish short form.
Who has carried each name
Alan
Alan Turing (b. 1912) — Broke the Enigma code and founded computer science
Alan Rickman (b. 1946) — Harry Potter's Snape
Alan Shepard (b. 1923) — First American in space — later hit a golf ball on the Moon
Alejandro
Alejandro González Iñárritu (b. 1963) — Won back-to-back Best Director Oscars
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Alan if you want…
- a name holding steadyAlan is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesAlan is 2 syllables to Alejandro's 4
Choose Alejandro if you want…
- a name on the way upup 17 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAlejandro runs 4 syllables, Alan 2
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Alan
Strengths
- It has been in continuous use for nine hundred years without ever becoming a costume.
- Two letters, one syllable and no possible mispronunciation once the spelling is settled.
- It carries serious namesakes in mathematics, in acting and in spaceflight, and none of them owns it.
To consider
- Allen and Allan are both common and the spelling will need saying every time.
- It is a name of the middle of the last century in America and reads as a father's or a grandfather's.
- There is no meaning to give a child, and the ones offered in name books are guesses.
Alejandro
Strengths
- The meaning is settled, strong and understood across the world.
- It has native forms in every European language.
- It carries several short forms with very different registers.
To consider
- English speakers will say the j as an English j, which is not how it is said.
- It is long, and a short form will do most of the work.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes, though the boys hold nearly all of it.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Alan and Alejandro in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Alan and Alejandro?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Alan and Alejandro — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Alan or Alejandro — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Alan or Alejandro?
- Alan, in 2025: Alan ranked #191 with 1,915 babies; Alejandro ranked #195 with 1,842 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Alan or Alejandro?
- Alejandro. Over the last five years Alan moved up 3 places; Alejandro moved up 17 places.
- Which is the older name, Alan or Alejandro?
- Alan entered the US charts in 1882; Alejandro entered the US charts in 1885. On the American record, Alan is the older name.
- How many people are named Alan and Alejandro?
- About 277,000 people named Alan are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 140,000 people named Alejandro are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alans or Alejandros in the classroom?
- Alan will almost certainly be the only one in school. Alejandro will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Alan, Alejandro and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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