Alan
Alan stands at #191 nationally in 2025, keeping its place without fuss. The peak was 1955, a name your child would share with a great-aunt, which is quietly part of its charm.
What Alan carries
Alan · Latin
“cheerful (?), Kelt. harmony”
Source: Charlotte M. Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), see our sources.
Alan’s free Name Kit
Five printables for Alan, drawn in your browser at print size the moment you ask: a name print for the wall, a nursery sign, a tracing sheet, a shortlist sheet, and twelve sibling names with the reason for each. Letter size, 300 dpi, in the site’s own hand.
- Name print Meaning, origin and the popularity curve on one sheet, ready for a frame.
- Nursery sign The name big and bright, for a door, a shelf or the top of a dresser.
- Tracing sheet The name in dotted letters, with room to go over it again and again.
- Shortlist sheet A page for weighing names side by side: initials, nicknames, how it sounds with yours.
- Sibling names sheet Twelve names that go with this one, each with the reason, from the sibling matcher.
Name print
Meaning, origin and the popularity curve on one sheet, ready for a frame.
Nursery sign
The name big and bright, for a door, a shelf or the top of a dresser.
Tracing sheet
The name in dotted letters, with room to go over it again and again.
Shortlist sheet
A page for weighing names side by side: initials, nicknames, how it sounds with yours.
Sibling names sheet
Twelve names that go with this one, each with the reason, from the sibling matcher.
Print on plain letter paper or heavier card; the sign and the print look best on matte stock.
Alan since 1882
Alan peaked in 1955 at #43; #191 in 2025.
United States national data, Social Security Administration, through 2025, how we use it.
Where Alan is most common
The state that gives Alan most often, per boys born there, is Nebraska (0.2% in 2025); Delaware and Arizona are close behind.
Share of the state's recorded names for that sex, from the Social Security Administration's state file; a name is listed in a state only when five or more babies received it there that year.
Names that sit near Alan
Same shelf of the library: origin, era and shape, scored deterministically.
Patrick
#235 in 2025 · Latin
Diana
#244 in 2025 · Latin
Vincent
#107 in 2025 · Latin
Timothy
#203 in 2025 · Latin
Mark
#245 in 2025 · Latin
Valerie
#127 in 2025 · Latin
Austin
#113 in 2025 · Latin
August
#81 in 2025 · Latin
Browse: names starting with A · Latin names · all names
About Alan
How common is Alan today?
Alan stands at #191 nationally in 2025, keeping its place without fuss. The full curve since 1882 is above, public federal data, redrawn, never estimated.
Does Alan have a meaning on record?
The gloss on record reads “cheerful (?), Kelt. harmony”, of Latin origin (Charlotte M. Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884)).
What names go with Alan?
On origin, era, syllables and first letter, Patrick sits closest, with Diana and Vincent just behind. Give the matcher the names already in the house and it scores the whole top thousand against them.
Get Alan’s free Name Kit
Five printables made in your browser: a name print for the wall, a nursery sign, a tracing sheet, a shortlist sheet and twelve sibling names with the reason for each. Yours in a moment, for one email.
Make the kitThe book is in the works
A printed picture book where Alan earns every letter of their own name, page by page. See the preview pages and hear when it is ready.
Preview the book