Alan

Where Alan comes from

From Old Breton Alan, name of early Breton saints, of disputed origin and meaning; brought to England by Normans. It may have been the name of a Celtic deity, the brother of Bran, Welsh Alawn, Alun. As an early Irish name, perhaps connected with ail (“noble”). Compare French Alain.
— Wiktionary's entry for Alan
  • Celtic
  • Hebrew
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1882
    First appearance
    #837 among boys, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1912
    Alan Turing born
    English computer scientist
  3. 1946
    Alan Rickman born
    British actor and director
  4. 1951
    Peak, #40
    8,408 babies named Alan — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1968
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #74.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Celtic languages.
  • A male given name from Hebrew, variant of Elon.
Namesakes
  • Alan Turing · English computer scientist, 1912–1954
  • Alan Rickman · British actor and director, 1946–2016
  • Alan Shearer · English footballer, born 1970
  • Alan Arkin · American actor, filmmaker, 1934–2023
  • Alan García · President of Peru (1985–1990 and 2006–2011), 1949–2019

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.