Alistair

Where Alistair comes from

From Scottish Gaelic Alasdair, from Norman Alexandre or Latin Alexander, from Ancient Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros), from ἀλέξω (aléxō, “to defend”) + ἀνδρ- (andr-), the stem of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Alistair
  • Scottish Gaelic
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1922
    Alistair MacLean born
    Scottish novelist
  2. 1956
    First appearance
    #3,216 among boys, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1998
    Alistair Johnston born
    Canadian soccer player
  4. 2016
    Peak, #885
    247 babies named Alistair — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Scottish Gaelic.
Namesakes
  • Alistair MacLean · Scottish novelist, 1922–1987
  • Alistair Johnston · Canadian soccer player, born 1998
  • Alistair Darling · British Labour Party politician, 1953–2023
  • Alistair Overeem · Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer, born 1980
  • Alistair Brownlee · British triathlete, born 1988

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.