Aleister
Masculine · “defender of men”
Aleister is a deliberately chosen spelling rather than an inherited one, and the man who chose it is the reason the spelling exists. The name underneath is Alasdair, the Scottish Gaelic Alexander, which is entirely ordinary.
How old is the name Aleister?
Aleister first appears in US birth records in 1997 — 28 years ago. The typical Aleister is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Aleister are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aleister most popular?
Aleister peaked in 2020, reaching #2046 nationally. Today it ranks #2941, 895 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alexandros to Aleister
The story of Aleister
Alexander reached Scotland through the medieval kings and became thoroughly Scottish, giving Alasdair in Gaelic and a set of English spellings. The Aleister form is different in kind: an English occultist born in 1875 adopted it as an adult, having settled on it for reasons he explained at some length, and the spelling followed him. Its appearance in American records is recent and it is impossible to separate from him — anyone who looks the spelling up will arrive at the same place.
Meaning
defender of men
Alasdair is the Scottish Gaelic form of Alexander, from Greek alexein, 'to defend', and aner, andros, 'man'. That reading is settled. Alistair, Alastair and Alasdair are the standard English and Gaelic spellings; the Aleister spelling was adopted in the late nineteenth century by one particular writer, who chose it deliberately, and it has almost no independent history before him.
How the name formed
- Alexandros
- Alasdair
- Aleister
Related forms: Alasdair · Alistair · Alexander
Pronouncing Aleister
AL-iss-ter
Three syllables, stress on the first, said exactly as Alistair. The Gaelic Alasdair is AL-uss-dur, with a d rather than a t, which is the older sound.
Nicknames for Aleister
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
- 1997
- Most boys named
- 202069 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2046reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- +20.0%42 in 2025, from 35
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.
Aleister 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, Ohio.
Aleisters among us
people named Aleister are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 40,668 born in 2025 was named Aleister
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 Ibrahima test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aleister's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ibrahima climbed just as high around 2002, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ibrahima's path sketches the road Aleister is walking now.
Aleister 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 Aleister is headed
Aleister is easing off slowly — about 17% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Aleister beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aleister in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Al and Ally are both ready short forms with long records of their own.
- The underlying name has a documented Greek origin and a long Scottish history.
- Three syllables that every English speaker says correctly at first sight.
- This particular spelling is closely and unavoidably tied to one twentieth-century occultist.
- Alistair and Alastair are the standard spellings and this one will be corrected in writing.
- Anyone who searches the spelling will find the same association immediately.
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What they receive
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Aleister
Masculine · #2941 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aleisters are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Aleister are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Aleister in 2025?
- Aleister ranks #2941 among US boy names in 2025, with 42 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aleister?
- About 1 in every 40,668 US boys born in 2025 was named Aleister — 42 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aleister with classmates?
- Aleister will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aleister
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Prescott#2941 · Kwame#2941 · Michelangelo#2941 · Jahan#2941 · Kairi#2941 · Yonah#2941 · Nihal#2941 · Reyes#2941
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aleister? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aleister and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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