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Alaster

#6,460 in 2025Boys' name

To defend + man, through Alistair

Alaster has been given to 138 babies in the U.S. since 1998. In 2025 it ranked #6,460 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 16 recorded.

Babies named Alaster, 2025

1 in 255,000

Alaster over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Alaster: meaning, origin, and history

To defend + man, through Alistair

Scottish Gaelic

What Alaster means

Alaster belongs to the name family reached through Alaster → Alistair. Its meaning is “to defend + man”.

Origin, language, and formation

Alaster is used in English. Its origins include Scottish Gaelic.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Alistair.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 138 boys were recorded with the name Alaster between 1998 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 16 in 2024; its best national rank was #5,667 in 2024.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #10,649 in 2020 to #6,460 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Alaster?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 255,000
13 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 131,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#6,460
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
176,762 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Alaster 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 176,762 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Alaster. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Alasters were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Alaster was born before 2019 — so the typical Alaster is around 6 today.

Median birth year
2019
About 6 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
44.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
96.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
138
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 44.9% of all recorded uses (62).

Is Alaster 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
−793
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+4,189
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
81.3%
Peak was 2024 (16)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
26.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,667
2024

Spellings of Alaster

Alaster is not the most common spelling — Lester is, with 93.5% against Alaster's 0.10%.

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.

Alaster around the world

Where Alaster 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.

  • South Australia
    1959–1959
    #464
    in 1959

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Alaster by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#6,460
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 4,189
Best rank ever
#5,667
2024
Peak year
2024
16 that year
First recorded
1998
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
138
Count in 2025
13

Names similar to Alaster

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

AlarickAladdinAlassaneAlaminAlastorAlakayAlazarAlastarAlarikAlansonSlayterAlannAlanoAlaniAlandisRichterAlanzoAlasdairAlysterDaxterAlameenAlandoWynterSkeeter

Sibling names for Alaster

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 Alaster

Top names of 2024, Alaster's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2024Boys' names starting with A