Alastair
Masculine · “defender of men”
Alastair is the Scottish Alexander — defender of men — reshaped by Gaelic until the Greek original is barely visible.
How old is the name Alastair?
Alastair first appears in US birth records in 1922 — 103 years ago. The typical Alastair alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 1,300 people named Alastair are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alastair most popular?
Alastair peaked in 2025, reaching #2145 nationally. Today it ranks #2145, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alexandros to Alastair
The story of Alastair
Alexander was carried to Scotland by three medieval kings, and Gaelic reworked it into Alasdair, which became so common that MacAlister is a clan name. The English spellings Alastair, Alistair and Alasdair are all current. It appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
defender of men
From the Scottish Gaelic Alasdair, from Alexander, from the Greek alexein, 'to defend', and aner, 'man'. Gaelic reshaped the Latin Alexander through Alaxandair to Alasdair, anglicized as Alastair or Alistair. The chain is documented.
How the name formed
- Alexandros
- Alasdair
- Alastair
Related forms: Alasdair · Alistair · Alexander
Pronouncing Alastair
AL-uh-stair
Three syllables, stress on the first. Gaelic Alasdair is AL-us-ter with a lighter ending.
Nicknames for Alastair
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1922
- Most boys named
- 202567 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2145reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +13.6%67 in 2025, from 59
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Alastair in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alasdair in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Alistair in English — spelling variant
- Alexander in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Alastairs among us
people named Alastair are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 25,494 born in 2025 was named Alastair
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Trevan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alastair's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Trevan climbed just as high around 1996, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Trevan's path sketches the road Alastair is walking now.
Alastair sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Alastair is headed
Alastair should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Alastair beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alastair in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The defender-of-men meaning is transparent and undisputed.
- That Gaelic reshaped a Greek name this far is a first-rate history.
- Al and Ally are two short forms, both with real records.
- At least three spellings are in common use.
- It reads as strongly Scottish or British.
- Alexander is what English speakers may assume.
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What they receive
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Alastair
Masculine · #2145 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alastairs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Alastair are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alastair in 2025?
- Alastair ranks #2145 among US boy names in 2025, with 67 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alastair?
- About 1 in every 25,494 US boys born in 2025 was named Alastair — 67 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alastair with classmates?
- Alastair will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alastair
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Wendell#2145 · Adair#2145 · Shayan#2145 · Banner#2145 · Musab#2145 · Jahsir#2145 · Hosea#2145 · Baylen#2145
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alastair? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alastair and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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