Alistair
Alistair was given to 265 boys in 2025, #897 among boys’ names; 4,088 Americans have been recorded with it since 1956 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,030 Americans named Alistair and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 4 and 15.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alistair by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Alistair mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Alistair is “a male given name from Scottish Gaelic.” Its etymology gives the senses “to defend” (ἀλέξω) and “man” (ἀνήρ).
From Scottish Gaelic Alasdair, from Norman Alexandre or Latin Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), from ἀλέξω (aléxō, “to defend”) + ἀνδρ- (andr-), the stem of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”).
/ˈæl.ɪ.stɚ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Alistair?
#897 among boys’ names, 2025
Alistair rose from #1,023 in 2015 to #897 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.10 to 0.16 per 1,000.
265 babies in 2025, the peak
Alistair peaked in 2025, when 265 boys were given it, #897 among boys’ names. In 2024 it went to 257 boys.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 265 | #897 | 0.16 |
| 2024 | 257 | #909 | 0.15 |
| 2023 | 250 | #921 | 0.15 |
| 2022 | 248 | #929 | 0.14 |
| 2021 | 255 | #902 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 226 | #961 | 0.13 |
| 2019 | 221 | #968 | 0.12 |
| 2018 | 205 | #1,009 | 0.11 |
| 2017 | 225 | #929 | 0.12 |
| 2016 | 247 | #885 | 0.13 |
Every recorded year (59)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 198 | #1,023 | 0.10 |
| 2014 | 179 | #1,080 | 0.09 |
| 2013 | 132 | #1,306 | 0.07 |
| 2012 | 126 | #1,346 | 0.07 |
| 2011 | 108 | #1,495 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 81 | #1,806 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 90 | #1,717 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 68 | #2,039 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 71 | #1,974 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 53 | #2,348 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 42 | #2,611 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 31 | #3,157 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 23 | #3,730 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 26 | #3,350 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 21 | #3,843 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 24 | #3,419 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 30 | #2,793 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 18 | #3,848 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 12 | #4,965 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 23 | #3,104 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 19 | #3,428 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 25 | #2,847 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 20 | #3,241 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 12 | #4,574 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 21 | #2,986 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 10 | #4,998 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 16 | #3,446 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 12 | #3,912 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 10 | #4,239 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 13 | #3,440 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 14 | #3,216 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 14 | #3,108 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 8 | #4,512 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 6 | #5,644 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 13 | #3,221 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 6 | #5,542 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 9 | #4,075 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,075 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 14 | #2,912 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 9 | #3,727 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,433 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 11 | #3,124 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 9 | #3,452 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 11 | #2,991 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 12 | #2,818 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 5 | #4,741 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 5 | #4,423 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 6 | #3,607 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 7 | #3,223 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Alistair a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alistair 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 Alistair: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alistair, and how old are they?
4,030 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 4,088 Americans ever recorded as Alistair. The median Alistair alive today is 9 years old; half are between 4 and 15.
The 2020 Census counted 3,322 people named Alistair (73 women and girls, 3,249 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,607 born in the U.S. The Census count is 27% above 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 | 10 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 96 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 225 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 813 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,890 |
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).
Where are babies named Alistair born?
The states with the most babies named Alistair are California, Texas and Florida, with 36% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 32 | #787 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 26 | #938 | 0.6× |
| Florida | 16 | #889 | 0.6× |
| New York | 13 | #952 | 0.8× |
| Missouri | 10 | #559 | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 10 | #854 | 0.6× |
| Colorado | 10 | #537 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 9 | #856 | 0.9× |
| Tennessee | 9 | #721 | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 8 | #916 | 0.7× |
Where Alistair is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Alistair is most over-represented in Washington: since 1956 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Alistair with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 7,384 babies since 1880, Alistair is the most given (55% of them). In 2025 it was given to 265 of their 447 babies (59%), again the 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 Alistair
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 Alistair and names like it
- Compare Alistair and AlisterBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sAlistair peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alistair since 1910.
- Scottish Gaelic namesWiktionary’s origin for Alistair: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Alistair.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Alistair alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.