Alistair
Top 1000
About Alistair
With many British names invading the Yankee name pool, the sophisticated Alistair could and should be part of the next wave. It debuted in the US Top 1000 in 2016. You have a triple choice with this name--the British spell it Alistair or Alastair, while the Scots prefer Alasdair--but they're all suave Gaelic versions of Alexander. Adopted by the lowland Scots by the seventeenth century, the name didn't become popular outside Scotland and Ireland until the twentieth century.
Both Andrew Lloyd-Weber and Rod Stewart chose the Alastair spelling for their sons' names.
Pronounced AL-uh-stair.
As of October 2026, Alistair ranked #897 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #885 in 2016, Nameberry popularity #178.
Editor's take: The name Alistair is a boy's name of Scottish, Scottish Gaelic origin meaning "defending men".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #1,079 | 179 | 93.2 |
| 2015 | #1,029 | 197 | 102.8 |
| 2016 | #885 | 247 | 130.2 |
| 2017 | #929 | 225 | 121.6 |
| 2018 | #1,008 | 205 | 112.9 |
| 2019 | #968 | 221 | 123.2 |
| 2020 | #961 | 226 | 130.9 |
| 2021 | #901 | 255 | 145.8 |
| 2022 | #929 | 248 | 142 |
| 2023 | #919 | 250 | 146.1 |
| 2024 | #905 | 257 | 149.2 |
| 2025 | #897 | 265 | 155.1 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Alistair.
- Dorian
- Alastair
- Ambrose
- Cedric
- Magnus
- Lucien
- Lucian
- Leander
- Lysander
- Evander
- Cyrus
- Augustus
- Cassius
- Hayato
- Remus
- Cassian
- Alaric
- Caius
- Thaddeus
- Florian
Alistair on lists
Famous Alistairs
- Alfred "Alistair" Cooke
British,American journalist and TV presenter
- Alistair Richard Griffin
English singer,songwriter
- Alistair Cees Overeem
Dutch MMA fighter
- Alistair Mackay
Scottish polar explorer
- Alistair Maclean Darling
Baron Darling of Roulanish, British MP
- (Robert) Alistair McAlpine
Baron McAlpine of West Green, British adviser to PM Margaret Thatcher
- Alistair Edward Brownlee
English triathlete
- Alistair MacLeod
Canadian novelist
- (James) Alistair Taylor
English assistant to the Beatles
- Alistair Stuart MacLean
Scottish novelist
- Alexander Morrison "Alistair" Carmichael
Scottish MP
- Alistair Reid "Ally" MacLeod
Scottish footballer and manager
- Alistair Murdoch "Ally" McCoist
Scottish footballer
- Alistair Charles McGowan
English comedian
- Alistair Stuart MacLean
Scottish novelist
- Alistair Douglas Ross Campbell
Zimbabwean cricketer
- Alistair Begg
American radio evangelist
- Alistair "Ali" Testo
bassist of British pop punk band As It Is
Alistair in pop culture
- Alistair Smythe aka The Ultimate Spider
Slayer, villain in Spider,Man comics
- Alistair Theirin
a character in the Dragon Age series
- Alistair Leslie Graham aka Ali G
character created by Sacha Baron Cohen
- Alistair Crane
character on American soap Passions
- "The Revenge Files of Alistair Fury
" children's series
- Alistair Gordon Lethbridge
Stewart, character on TV's Doctor Who
- Alistair Oh
character in 'The 39 Clues'
- Alistair Windsor
character in 'The Night Gardener'
- Alistair Ryle
character in The Riot Club
- Alistair "Alex" Turner
character from the TV series 'London Spy'
- Alastor "Mad
Eye" Moody, character in the Harry Potter series
- Alistair Patton
character in 'Return to Snowy River'
- Alastor the Radio Demon
character in 'Hazbin Hotel'
- Alistair Wonderland
character in “Ever After High”