Alastair
Alastair was given to 67 boys in 2025, #2,147 among boys’ names; 1,364 Americans have been recorded with it since 1922 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,320 Americans named Alastair and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 6 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alastair by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Alastair mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Alastair is “a male given name from Scottish Gaelic.” Its etymology gives the sense “Alexander” (Alasdair).
From Scottish Gaelic Alasdair (“Alexander”). Doublet of Alexander.
/ˈæl.ə.stɚ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Alastair?
#2,147 among boys’ names, 2025
Alastair rose from #2,599 in 2015 to #2,147 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 24.5 to 39.2 per million.
67 babies in 2025, the peak
Alastair peaked in 2025, when 67 boys were given it, #2,147 among boys’ names. In 2024 it went to 59 boys.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 67 | #2,147 | 39.2 |
| 2024 | 59 | #2,372 | 34.2 |
| 2023 | 60 | #2,314 | 35.1 |
| 2022 | 50 | #2,648 | 28.6 |
| 2021 | 61 | #2,276 | 34.9 |
| 2020 | 39 | #2,979 | 22.6 |
| 2019 | 62 | #2,230 | 34.6 |
| 2018 | 46 | #2,675 | 25.3 |
| 2017 | 61 | #2,186 | 33.0 |
| 2016 | 50 | #2,518 | 26.3 |
Every recorded year (59)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 47 | #2,599 | 24.5 |
| 2014 | 36 | #3,089 | 18.7 |
| 2013 | 28 | #3,663 | 14.8 |
| 2012 | 38 | #3,003 | 20.0 |
| 2011 | 27 | #3,793 | 14.2 |
| 2010 | 25 | #3,996 | 13.0 |
| 2009 | 33 | #3,333 | 16.6 |
| 2008 | 37 | #3,103 | 18.1 |
| 2007 | 29 | #3,592 | 14.0 |
| 2006 | 36 | #3,025 | 17.5 |
| 2005 | 24 | #3,814 | 12.0 |
| 2004 | 18 | #4,602 | 9.1 |
| 2003 | 13 | #5,559 | 6.6 |
| 2002 | 13 | #5,398 | 6.7 |
| 2001 | 14 | #5,139 | 7.2 |
| 2000 | 13 | #5,294 | 6.6 |
| 1999 | 15 | #4,536 | 7.8 |
| 1998 | 10 | #5,843 | 5.2 |
| 1997 | 17 | #3,878 | 9.0 |
| 1996 | 17 | #3,828 | 9.0 |
| 1995 | 17 | #3,690 | 8.9 |
| 1994 | 11 | #5,109 | 5.7 |
| 1993 | 16 | #3,815 | 8.2 |
| 1992 | 22 | #2,997 | 11.0 |
| 1991 | 14 | #4,004 | 6.9 |
| 1990 | 13 | #4,167 | 6.3 |
| 1989 | 18 | #3,201 | 9.0 |
| 1988 | 20 | #2,762 | 10.4 |
| 1987 | 19 | #2,723 | 10.2 |
| 1986 | 24 | #2,288 | 13.0 |
| 1985 | 14 | #3,214 | 7.6 |
| 1984 | 12 | #3,460 | 6.6 |
| 1983 | 6 | #5,493 | 3.3 |
| 1982 | 10 | #3,968 | 5.5 |
| 1981 | 14 | #3,034 | 7.8 |
| 1980 | 8 | #4,507 | 4.5 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,367 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,072 | 3.7 |
| 1977 | 8 | #4,171 | 4.9 |
| 1974 | 6 | #4,644 | 3.8 |
| 1972 | 8 | #3,623 | 4.9 |
| 1971 | 5 | #4,915 | 2.8 |
| 1970 | 9 | #3,281 | 4.8 |
| 1969 | 5 | #4,410 | 2.8 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,042 | 2.4 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,320 | 3.4 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,248 | 6.5 |
| 1925 | 5 | #4,199 | 4.5 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,315 | 4.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Alastair a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alastair has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 59 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Alastair: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alastair, and how old are they?
1,320 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 1,364 Americans ever recorded as Alastair. The median Alastair alive today is 13 years old; half are between 6 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 1,560 people named Alastair (16 women and girls, 1,544 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,000 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 7 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 55 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 235 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 357 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 661 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 6,252 babies since 1880, Alastair is the second most given (22% of them). In 2025 it was given to 67 of their 418 babies (16%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Alastair
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Alastair and names like it
- Compare Alastair and AlistairBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sAlastair peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alastair since 1910.
- Scottish Gaelic namesWiktionary’s origin for Alastair: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Alastair.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Alastair alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.