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Alastair

#2,147 in 2025Boys' name

To defend, through Alasdair

Alastair has been given to 1,364 babies in the U.S. since 1922. In 2025 it ranked #2,147 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 67 recorded.

Babies named Alastair, 2025

1 in 49,500

Alastair over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Alastair: meaning, origin, and history

To defend, through Alasdair

Scottish Gaelic

What Alastair means

Alastair belongs to the name family reached through Alastair → Alasdair. Its meaning is “to defend”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Scottish Gaelic Alasdair (“Alexander”). Doublet of Alexander.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Alastair (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Alastair is used in English and Scottish Gaelic. Its origins include Scottish Gaelic.

Alastair comes through Scottish Gaelic Alasdair.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Alasdair and Alexander.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Alastair is pronounced /ˈæl.ə.stɚ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,364 boys were recorded with the name Alastair between 1922 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 67 in 2025; its best national rank was #2,147 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,979 in 2020 to #2,147 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,599 in 2015 to #2,147 in 2025.

How common is Alastair?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 49,500
67 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 25,500
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,147
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
34,298 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Alastair sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 34,298 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Alastair. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Alastairs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Alastair was born before 2012 — so the typical Alastair is around 13 today.

Median birth year
2012
About 13 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
30.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
71.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,341
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 30.8% of all recorded uses (420).

Is Alastair rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+225
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+832
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+452
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.43×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (67)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
25.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,147
2025

Spellings of Alastair

Alastair is not the most common spelling — Alistair is, with 68.4% against Alastair's 22.8%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Alastair is used

Across 2016–2025, Alastair was most concentrated in Oregon — about 1 in 25,000 boys, against 1 in 61,431 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in 100,000).

14 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Oregon1 in 25,000
  2. 2California1 in 33,333
  3. 3Colorado1 in 50,000
  4. 4Florida1 in 100,000
  5. 5Michigan1 in 100,000
  6. 6New York1 in 100,000
  7. 7Ohio1 in 100,000
  8. 8Texas1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Alastair around the world

Where Alastair ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,153
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2025
    #400
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2007
    #357
    in 2007
  • Ireland
    1966–2020
    #637
    in 2020
  • France
    1971–2019
    #6,123
    in 2019
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,817
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1945–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Alastair by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,147
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 832
Best rank ever
#2,147
2025
Peak year
2025
67 that year
First recorded
1922
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,364
Count in 2025
67

Names similar to Alastair

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

AlasdairSinclairAlakaiAlastorAlassaneAlistairAladdinAlanzoAlaricAldairAlarikAlasterAlarickAlainZubairAlazarAlaminAlanteAdairNirvairKyairAlansonAlaaAlakay

Sibling names for Alastair

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Alastair

Top names of 2025, Alastair's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Boys' names starting with AAlexander Variations & NicknamesEthereal Boy NamesScottish Boy NamesScottish Names