Boy · Breton (Celtic); origin uncertain · Christian · International
Alan
AlanSay it AL-un
- Meaning today
- Handsome, little rock
- In the dictionaries
- No dictionary meaning confirmed for the name itself
- Say it
- AL-un
- Other spellings
- Allan, Allen
Alan
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Alan meaning
Alan is a Christian and international boy's name.
Meaning today
Handsome, little rock
In the dictionaries
We haven't confirmed a dictionary meaning for the name itself. The meaning above is how families commonly use it.
Alan is an old name from Brittany in north-west France. Breton nobles who took part in the Norman Conquest of 1066 brought it to England, and from there it spread across the English-speaking world, including Christian families in India. Its original meaning is not known. Name lists often give "handsome" or "little rock". The second echoes Irish ailín, "little rock", from a separate Gaelic line of the name, and scholars have also proposed a Brythonic word for a deer; none of these explanations is accepted as settled. It is not a biblical name, so it has no entry in Strong's Concordance. A famous bearer is the British mathematician Alan Turing.
References: Wikipedia, Alan (given name) · Britannica, Alan Turing
Famous namesakes
- Alan Turing, British mathematician and computing pioneer
Popularity abroad
- #191 United States, boys 2025 (down 24 from 167 in 2024)
US Social Security Administration - #539 England and Wales, boys 2025
Office for National Statistics
Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.
Spellings
Alan · Allan · Allen