Alistair
Masculine · “defender of men”
Alistair is the Scottish route back to Alexander — the Gaelic Alasdair, spelled again by English ears. It keeps three unhurried syllables and ends on that open -air or -ter, depending on which side of the Atlantic is saying it. A name with a thousand years behind it that most American classrooms have still never had to spell twice.
How old is the name Alistair?
Alistair first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Alistair is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,000 people named Alistair are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alistair most popular?
Alistair peaked in 2016, reaching #885 nationally. Today it ranks #897, 12 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Where it comes from
From Alexandros to Alistair
The story of Alistair
The name begins as Greek Alexandros and travels on the fame of Alexander the Great, who carried it as far as the Indus. Medieval Scotland took it up in earnest — three kings named Alexander ruled between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries — and Gaelic speakers reshaped it as Alasdair. When that Gaelic form was written down again in English, it came out as Alistair, Alastair or Alister, and the spellings have coexisted ever since. It reached American records in the mid-twentieth century and has been used quietly and continuously here since.
Meaning
defender of men
From Greek Alexandros, combining alexein, to defend, with aner/andros, man.
How the name formed
- Alexandros
- Alexander
- Alasdair
- Alistair
Related forms: Alasdair · Alastar · Alastair · Alexandros · Alejandro · Aleksandr
Pronouncing Alistair
AL-ih-stair
Stress on the first syllable. Many British and Scottish speakers finish it as AL-ih-ster, with the last syllable reduced; both are correct and neither needs correcting.
Nicknames for Alistair
High
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
- 1956
- Most boys named
- 2025265 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #885reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- +3.1%265 in 2025, from 257
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.
Alistair in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alasdair in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- Alastar in Irish — related form
- Alastair in English — spelling variant
- Alexandros in Greek — related form
- Alejandro in Spanish — related form
- Aleksandr in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Alistairs among us
people named Alistair are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,446 born in 2025 was named Alistair
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 Torrence test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alistair's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Torrence climbed just as high around 1973, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Torrence's path sketches the road Alistair is walking now.
Alistair 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 Alistair is headed
Alistair should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Alistair beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alistair in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Traces an unbroken line to Greek Alexandros, so the meaning is settled rather than guessed at.
- Recognized across the English-speaking world, with close relatives in Spanish, Russian, Italian and Greek.
- Short forms already exist and are centuries old — Al, Ally, and in Scotland, Sandy.
- Familiar enough that nobody asks what it is, uncommon enough here that a child is unlikely to share it in class.
- Alistair, Alastair, Alasdair and Alister are all in genuine use, so the spelling will be asked for and sometimes guessed wrong. Worth deciding early which one you want on the birth certificate and saying it the same way every time.
- The ending shifts between -stair and -ster depending on the speaker's accent. Your child will hear both, and will probably stop minding.
- Three syllables invite shortening, and Al is the one strangers reach for first. If you want the full name used, expect to say so more than once.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Alistair to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Alistair
Masculine · #897 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alistairs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,000 people named Alistair are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alistair in 2025?
- Alistair ranks #897 among US boy names in 2025, with 265 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alistair?
- About 1 in every 6,446 US boys born in 2025 was named Alistair — 265 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alistair with classmates?
- Alistair will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alistair
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lucien#897 · Marcello#897 · Kaleo#897 · Eliezer#893 · Hollis#893 · Laith#893 · Guillermo#901 · Ishaan#893
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alistair? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alistair and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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