Alan

What Alan means

Variant of Elon, meaning “oak tree”

variant of Elon || Borrowed from Hebrew אֵילֹן (ʼÊlōn, literally “oak tree”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Alan” (revision 91690208) and “Elon” (revision 94539075), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Alan?

US: Falling: down from #167 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #170 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1951, when 8,408 boys got the name (#40 that year). First in the US records in 1882.

How common

• About 1 in 892 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 3,777 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 3,928 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DE (2.04 per 1,000 boys), NE (2.04 per 1,000 boys), AZ (1.93 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Alan is #191 in the US and #539 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Alan were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Allen507 US · 6 E&W
• Allan223 US · 5 E&W
• Ilan124 US · 15 E&W
• Elon90 US · 9 E&W
• Aylan72 US · 15 E&W
• Olin86 US
• Elan54 US · 5 E&W
• Alain44 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Alan

Boys

• Toby#977Form of Tobias, meaning “my good is YHWH”^*
• Ian#83Editor’s note Steady in the US: #76 in 2015 and #83 in 2025. About 1 in 440 US boys in the 2025 records
• Evan#153“God is gracious”^*
• Emanuel#574Spanish, meaning “God is with us”^*
• Colin#343Short form of Nicholas, meaning “victory + people”^*
• Nathan#63“gave”^*

For a sister

• Daniela#302Form of Daniel, meaning “God is my judge”^*
• Ashlyn#972“dream, vision”^*
• Ashlynn#980Variant of Ashlyn, meaning “dream, vision”^*
• Gabriela#317Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2003, with 3,362 babies; 961 in 2025
• Abby#731Diminutive of Abigail, meaning “my Father's joy”^*
• Annika#995Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2003, with 1,089 babies; 254 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Hebrew, Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Alan’s. Rank is US 2025.