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Alister

#1,689 in 2025Boys' name

To defend + man, through Allister

Alister has been given to 1,664 babies in the U.S. since 1924. In 2025 it ranked #1,689 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2022, with 141 recorded.

Babies named Alister, 2025

1 in 34,200

Alister over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Alister: meaning, origin, and history

To defend + man, through Allister

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Alister means

Alister belongs to the name family reached through Alister → Allister → Alexander. Its meaning is “to defend + man”.

Origin, language, and formation

Alister is used in English and Manx.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Allister and Alexander.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,659 boys were recorded with the name Alister between 1924 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 141 in 2022; its best national rank was #1,330 in 2022.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,556 in 2020 to #1,689 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,815 in 2015 to #1,689 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Alister between 2018 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2018; its best national rank was #15,802 in 2018.

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 Alister?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 34,200
97 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 17,600
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,689
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
23,691 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Alister 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 23,691 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Alister. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Alisters were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Alister was born before 2017 — so the typical Alister is around 8 today.

Median birth year
2017
About 8 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
44.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
92.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,654
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 44.4% of all recorded uses (736).

Is Alister 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
−39
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−133
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+126
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.18×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
68.8%
Peak was 2022 (141)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,330
2022

Spellings of Alister

Alister is not the most common spelling — Lester is, with 92.6% against Alister's 1.2%.

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 Alister is used

Across 2016–2025, Alister was most concentrated in Colorado — about 1 in 12,500 boys, against 1 in 24,783 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in 100,000).

18 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Colorado1 in 12,500
  2. 2Texas1 in 14,286
  3. 3Ohio1 in 16,667
  4. 4California1 in 20,000
  5. 5Indiana1 in 20,000
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 20,000
  7. 7Kansas1 in 25,000
  8. 8Missouri1 in 25,000

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.

Alister around the world

Where Alister 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
    #2,664
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2024
    #727
    in 2024
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–1997
    #271
    in 1997
  • France
    1980–2025
    #5,637
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,536
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1944–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, 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. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Alister by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,689
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 133
Best rank ever
#1,330
2022
Peak year
2022
141 that year
First recorded
1924
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,659
Count in 2025
97

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#15,802
2018
Peak year
2018
5 that year
First recorded
2018
Last recorded
2018
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Alister

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

AlistairAlisonAliasCoulterCutterKolterJupiterAlistarWebsterAliouneAllisterSlaterKharterWinterPieterAlixMisterAliciaBaxterAlijahAliceAlimAleisterKutter

Sibling names for Alister

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 Alister

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