Alan

Locally spelled Елена in RU Russia, BY Belarus, FI Finland, Helen in US United States, Олена in UA Ukraine and Rina in IN India.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

• English:/ˈæl.ən/●(recorded in a dictionary) from Wiktionary
• Spanish:/alan/○(machine-generated) model-generated

Readings marked model-generated were transcribed by a model; the others are quoted from the dictionary named.

Attested across 16 languages in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Alan, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Brian
• Bruce
• Bernard
• Carl
• Barry

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Alan is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate name6 spellings in the group

  Also written Ālan, Àlan, Álan, Alán, Ālān

• Indonesian given name9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Alan, Al-An, Alán, Äľäň, Álan

• Hungarian given name6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, United Kingdom, United States, Finland

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Álan, Älan, Alän

• Italian given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Italy, United Kingdom, San Marino

  Also written Alán

• Greek given name5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Allan, Αλαν, Άλαν, Αλάν

86 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Alan is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Irish, Possibly connected with ail, "noble"; may have been the name of a Celtic deity. Associated with Alan-a-Dale in Robin Hood lore.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, Irish-Scottish Gaelic; handsome, the bright fair one, the beautiful child; also term of endearment; feminine form of Alan

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In English, from Breton name, often glossed as handsome or little rock

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• Of Celtic origin and uncertain derivation (possibly a diminutive of a word meaning ‘rock’). It was introduced into England by Breton followers of William the Conqueror, most notably Alan, Earl of Brittany, who was rewarded for his services with vast estates in the newly conquered kingdom. In Britain the vari-

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, Alternative form of alaunt.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Alan MacDiarmidb. 1927NZNew Zealand chemist (1927–2007)
• Alan Rickmanb. 1946GBBritish actor and director (1946–2016)
• Russell Hulseb. 1950USnot in their usual nameAmerican astronomer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

131 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 65 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What are other forms of the name Alan?

In the etymology graph, Allan, Alain and Alen are forms of the same name in other languages.

What does the name Alan mean, and where does it come from?

Breton/French form from Celtic, often linked to Breton alain 'little rock; harmony'. Recorded by Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education).

Is Alan a male or female name?

Alan is a male name. National registers that list it by sex list it as male: United States (Census Bureau, 2020), Brazil (IBGE), Poland (dane.gov.pl, 2026) and Ecuador (INEC, 2024), among others.

Which countries have the most people named Alan?

Mondonomo estimates about 5.0 million people named Елена in Russia, more than in any other country we hold. After it come India, Ukraine, Italy and Brazil; the country table on this page ranks them.

Where is Alan most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Alan is densest in the United States — about 1 in 1.2 thousand people — even though Russia holds more of our records for it.

How common is the name Alan?

In the United States, the national register counted 284,872 people named Alan in 2020, about 1 in 1.2 thousand residents.

How common is Alan compared with other names?

In Russia, Alan is the 2nd most common given name of 472,143 given names recorded there.

How do you pronounce Alan?

It depends on the language: in English /ˈæl.ən/ (Wiktionary); in Spanish /alan/. Transcriptions are machine-generated except where a dictionary is named.