Alister
Alister was given to 97 boys in 2025, #1,689 among boys’ names; 1,664 Americans have been recorded with it since 1924 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,640 Americans named Alister and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 8 years old and half are between 4 and 14.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alister by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Alister mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Alister is “a male given name.”
Variant of Allister.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Alister?
#1,689 among boys’ names, 2025
Alister rose from #1,815 in 2015 to #1,689 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 42.8 to 56.8 per million.
141 babies in 2022, the peak
Alister peaked in 2022, when 141 boys were given it, #1,330 among boys’ names. The 97 births of 2025 are 69% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 97 | #1,689 | 56.8 |
| 2024 | 102 | #1,650 | 59.2 |
| 2023 | 99 | #1,701 | 57.9 |
| 2022 | 141 | #1,330 | 80.8 |
| 2021 | 91 | #1,764 | 52.0 |
| 2020 | 106 | #1,556 | 61.4 |
| 2019 | 93 | #1,699 | 51.8 |
| 2018 | 93 | #1,687 | 51.2 |
| 2017 | 110 | #1,510 | 59.4 |
| 2016 | 102 | #1,599 | 53.7 |
Every recorded year (42)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 82 | #1,815 | 42.8 |
| 2014 | 60 | #2,230 | 31.2 |
| 2013 | 57 | #2,250 | 30.1 |
| 2012 | 52 | #2,415 | 27.4 |
| 2011 | 57 | #2,261 | 30.0 |
| 2010 | 30 | #3,531 | 15.6 |
| 2009 | 30 | #3,551 | 15.1 |
| 2008 | 30 | #3,561 | 14.7 |
| 2007 | 22 | #4,378 | 10.6 |
| 2006 | 19 | #4,682 | 9.2 |
| 2005 | 16 | #5,039 | 8.0 |
| 2004 | 13 | #5,819 | 6.5 |
| 2003 | 12 | #5,882 | 6.1 |
| 2002 | 8 | #7,667 | 4.1 |
| 2001 | 14 | #5,143 | 7.2 |
| 2000 | 6 | #9,129 | 3.1 |
| 1999 | 5 | #9,966 | 2.6 |
| 1998 | 10 | #5,846 | 5.2 |
| 1997 | 11 | #5,289 | 5.8 |
| 1996 | 8 | #6,512 | 4.2 |
| 1995 | 7 | #7,004 | 3.7 |
| 1994 | 10 | #5,458 | 5.2 |
| 1993 | 6 | #7,662 | 3.1 |
| 1990 | 7 | #6,422 | 3.4 |
| 1989 | 7 | #6,238 | 3.5 |
| 1988 | 11 | #4,166 | 5.7 |
| 1987 | 7 | #5,467 | 3.7 |
| 1986 | 6 | #5,943 | 3.3 |
| 1985 | 5 | #6,552 | 2.7 |
| 1984 | 6 | #5,581 | 3.3 |
| 1982 | 6 | #5,645 | 3.3 |
| 1924 | 5 | #4,363 | 4.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Alister a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alister has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 42 years of records.
Girls and boys named Alister: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alister, and how old are they?
1,640 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,664 Americans ever recorded as Alister. The median Alister alive today is 8 years old; half are between 4 and 14.
The 2020 Census counted 1,292 people named Alister (60 women and girls, 1,232 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,039 born in the U.S. The Census count is 24% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 82 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 331 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,230 |
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 Alister born?
The states with the most babies named Alister are California, Texas and Ohio, with 86% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 14 | #1,299 | 0.7× |
| Texas | 11 | #1,559 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 5 | #1,270 | 0.5× |
| Indiana | 5 | #953 | 0.4× |
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 Alister 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 8,430 babies since 1880, Alister is the second most given (20% of them). In 2025 it was given to 97 of their 530 babies (18%), 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 Alister
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 Alister and names like it
- Compare Alister and AlistairBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sAlister peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alister since 1910.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Alister.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Alister alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.