Allister
Masculine · “defender of men”
Allister is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,250 boys against 6 girls since 1880.
Allister is one of several English spellings of Alasdair, and Alasdair is how Scottish Gaelic says Alexander. Scotland took the Greek name up so thoroughly that three of its medieval kings carried it.
How old is the name Allister?
Allister first appears in US birth records in 1925 — 100 years ago. The typical Allister is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,200 people named Allister are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Allister most popular?
Allister peaked in 2021, reaching #2000 nationally. Today it ranks #2991, 991 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Where it comes from
From Alexandros to Allister
The story of Allister
Alexander became a Scottish royal name in the twelfth century — three kings of that name ruled between 1107 and 1286, and the third's death without an heir set off the wars of independence. That made it thoroughly Scottish, and Gaelic produced Alasdair. English-speaking Scots wrote the Gaelic sound however it seemed to them, which is why there are four common spellings and no agreed one. Allister with two l's reached America with Scottish and Ulster emigration.
Meaning
defender of men
Greek Alexandros joins alexein, 'to defend, to ward off', to aner, andros, 'man'. Scottish Gaelic reshaped it to Alasdair, which English writes as Alistair, Alastair, Allister and Alister. The reading is documented and undisputed; only the spelling has ever been in question.
How the name formed
- Alexandros
- Alasdair
- Allister
Related forms: Alasdair · Alistair · Alexander · Alastar
Pronouncing Allister
AL-iss-ter
Three syllables, stress on the first. The Gaelic Alasdair is AL-uss-dur, with a d rather than a t — the English spellings all soften that consonant, which is the main audible difference.
Nicknames for Allister
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
- 1925
- Most boys named
- 202276 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2000reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- −19.6%41 in 2025, from 51
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.
Allister in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alasdair in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Alistair in English — spelling variant
- Alexander in English — related form
- Alastar in Irish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Allisters among us
people named Allister are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 41,660 born in 2025 was named Allister
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Allister
- #2991
- Allister on the 2025 chart
- #785
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Allister went to 41 boys in 2025, but Alister and Alyster are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 143, which makes it the 785th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,206 places above the chart.
- Alister97
- Allister41
- Alyster5
About 1 boy in 11,945 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 41,660 for Allister itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Boe test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Allister's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Boe climbed just as high around 1982, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Boe's path sketches the road Allister is walking now.
Allister 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 Allister is headed
Allister 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.
Allister beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Allister in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Al, Ally and Sandy are three ready short forms, one of them distinctively Scottish.
- A documented Greek origin and a very long Scottish royal record.
- Three syllables that every English speaker says correctly at first sight.
- Alistair, Alastair, Allister and Alister are four live spellings and none is standard.
- The spelling will be given letter by letter every time the name is written down.
- The Gaelic d has become a t in all the English spellings, so none is quite the Gaelic name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Allister
Masculine · #2991 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Allisters are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Allister are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Allister?
- Allister is one of 3 recorded spellings. Alister is the more common one — 97 births in 2025 against 41 for Allister.
- How popular is the name Allister in 2025?
- Allister ranks #2991 among US boy names in 2025, with 41 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Allister?
- About 1 in every 41,660 US boys born in 2025 was named Allister — 41 in all.
- Will my child share the name Allister with classmates?
- Allister will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Allister
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roran#2991 · Izaak#2991 · Nyle#2991 · Levin#2991 · Tilden#2991 · Hanson#2991 · Breck#2991 · Oswaldo#2991
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Allister? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Allister and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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