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Aleister

#2,942 in 2025Boys' name

To defend + man

Aleister has been given to 653 babies in the U.S. since 1997. In 2025 it ranked #2,942 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2020, with 69 recorded.

Babies named Aleister, 2025

1 in 78,900

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Aleister: meaning, origin, and history

To defend + man

Scottish Gaelic

What Aleister means

Aleister means “to defend + man”, associated with aléxō and anḗr.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Scottish Gaelic Alasdair, from Norman French Alexandre or Latin Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), from ἀλέξω (aléxō, “to defend”) + ἀνδρ- (andr-), the stem of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

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

Aleister comes through Scottish Gaelic Alasdair and Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Alastair.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Aleister is pronounced /ˈæl.i.stɚ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 653 boys were recorded with the name Aleister between 1997 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 69 in 2020; its best national rank was #2,046 in 2020.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,046 in 2020 to #2,942 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,779 in 2015 to #2,942 in 2025.

How common is Aleister?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 78,900
42 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 40,700
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,942
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
54,713 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Aleister 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 54,713 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Aleister. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Aleisters were born

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

Median birth year
2019
About 6 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
43.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
97.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
653
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 43.5% of all recorded uses (284).

Is Aleister 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
+391
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−896
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+837
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.50×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
60.9%
Peak was 2020 (69)
Years since peak
5
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
25.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,046
2020

Spellings of Aleister

Aleister is not the most common spelling — Lester is, with 97.3% against Aleister's 0.49%.

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 Aleister is used

Across 2016–2025, Aleister was most concentrated in Ohio — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 70,202 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in 100,000).

13 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Ohio1 in 33,333
  2. 2California1 in 50,000
  3. 3Indiana1 in 50,000
  4. 4Massachusetts1 in 50,000
  5. 5Arizona1 in 100,000
  6. 6Illinois1 in 100,000
  7. 7New York1 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.

Aleister around the world

Where Aleister 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
    2018–2024
    #5,120
    in 2024
  • Canada
    2015–2022
    #2,602
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1992–1992
    #538
    in 1992

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Aleister by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,942
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 896
Best rank ever
#2,046
2020
Peak year
2020
69 that year
First recorded
1997
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
653
Count in 2025
42

Names similar to Aleister

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

AlexandrAlexandruAlekseyAlekseiAlesandroAlexiosAlexeyAleksandrAlegendAllisterAlexandeAlexavierJupiterAlessioAlexandarAlekzanderAlexsanderAleczanderKharterAlejandraAlexeiCoulterAlexandraAleksandar

Sibling names for Aleister

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 Aleister

Top names of 2020, Aleister's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2020Boys' names starting with AWitch Names