Allan
- Pronunciation
- [A-llan]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Handsome
- Origin
- Celtic
About the Name Allan
Allan is a Celtic given name rooted in Old Irish and Breton tradition, where the element ail or al was associated with concepts of handsomeness, harmony, and cheerfulness. Some scholars link it to the Breton alan, meaning "little rock" or a reference to a rocky promontory, while others favor the interpretation of "handsome" drawn from the Old Irish. The name traveled through Brittany into Norman French culture and arrived in England with the Conquest of 1066, where it became established as Alan, Allan, and Allen — three spellings that have coexisted for centuries with no single form ever fully displacing the others. Allan, with its doubled l, is the most common Scottish and Irish spelling and carries a distinctly Celtic visual identity.
Several notable figures have carried this spelling. Allan Carr (born 1937) was an American film producer, theatrical producer, talent manager, and TV producer whose 1970s and 1980s career included the 1978 film Grease. Allan Bloom was an American philosopher and classicist whose 1987 polemic against the modern university became, to nearly everyone's surprise including his publisher's, the season's bestselling work of nonfiction. Allan Cunningham was a Scottish poet, song collector, and biographer whose verses shaped the second wave of Scottish Romantic writing after Robert Burns. Allan Dwan was a Canadian-American filmmaker whose career stretched from one-reel Westerns in 1911 to colour adventure pictures in 1961. Allan Pinkerton was a Scottish-American detective who founded the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in 1850. Allan Sherman was an American comedy writer and singer whose early-1960s parody albums included the summer-camp letter-song Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh.
Allan entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000 and has remained continuously on the chart through 2024, peaking at #412 in 2003. Recent figures — #851 in 2024 with 283 boys — show steady, reliable presence. More than 10,000 boys have been named Allan within the SSA top-1000 era. Variants include Albert and Alun, the latter being the traditional Welsh spelling.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Allan
US Popularity History (2000–2024)
Annual US births named Allan by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2003 with 625 boys named Allan (boy rank #412 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2024, ranked #851 for boys (283 US births). That's 439 places below its 2003 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Allan Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Allan the strongest states are Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | #458 | 341 |
| 2 | Maryland | #580 | 63 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | #595 | 52 |
| 4 | Virginia | #626 | 65 |
| 5 | New York | #654 | 208 |
| 6 | New Jersey | #666 | 88 |
| 7 | California | #690 | 376 |
| 8 | Minnesota | #699 | 25 |
| 9 | Texas | #704 | 340 |
| 10 | North Carolina | #749 | 75 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio | #988 | 30 |
| 2 | Georgia | #889 | 35 |
| 3 | Tennessee | #818 | 41 |
| 4 | Washington | #817 | 27 |
| 5 | Illinois | #813 | 73 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | #774 | 60 |
| 7 | North Carolina | #749 | 75 |
| 8 | Texas | #704 | 340 |
| 9 | Minnesota | #699 | 25 |
| 10 | California | #690 | 376 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Allan in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Famous People Named Allan
6 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Allan.
- Allan Bloom was widely known for his critique of American Universities, in failing to serve the fundamental needs of their students.
- Allan Carr — Film Producer (1937)
- Allan Cunningham was a renowned Scottish author and poet.
- Allan Dwan was a writer, director, producer belonging to the era of silent films.
- Allan Pinkerton was a Scottish-American detective who founded the ‘Pinkerton National Detective Agency’.
- Allan Sherman was the creator of the famous compilation of parodies ‘My Son, the Folk Singer’, ‘My Son, the Celebrity’ and ‘My Son, the Nut’.
Looking for names like Allan?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Allan to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Allan against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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