Allan

Spellings & scripts●

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

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 19 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Allan is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name957K records spelled Allan22 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Philippines, United States, Costa Rica

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Állan, Allañ, Ällan, Ãllãn, Ållån

• Finnish given name81K records spelled Allan5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Philippines, Estonia, United States

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Ällan, Âllan

• a separate given name56K records spelled Allan3 spellings in the group

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

  Also written Állan, Allán

83 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.

Other recorded senses●

Allan 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 English, From Alan/Ailean, a Breton and Gaelic personal name meaning ‘rock’ or ‘rocky’; used patronymically. Normanised fiz Alan from 1296.

  as a name·Scottish Surnames

• Variant spelling of pAlan, used mainly in Scotland and North America.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, A male given name from the Celtic languages, a less common spelling of Alan.

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

• In Swedish, Allan är ett engelskt namn av keltiskt ursprung med oviss betydelse. Det har före slagits vara en bildning till ett ord med betydelsen ’klippa’. Kända namnbärare är den amerikanske författaren Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) och den svenske skådespelaren Allan Edwall (1924–1997). I den rikssvenska almanackan 22 april och i den finlandssvenska 7 april.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• Scottish and English: variant spelling of ALAN .

  as a word

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.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Edgar Allan Poeb. 1809USAmerican writer and literary critic (1809–1849)
• Allan Octavian Humeb. 1829GBBritish Ornithologist and Founder of the Indian National Congress (1829–1912)
• Allan Rex Sandageb. 1926USAmerican astronomer (1926-2010)
• Arno Allan Penziasb. 1933USGerman-born American physicist
• Woody Allenb. 1935USnot in their usual nameAmerican filmmaker, actor and comedian (born 1935)
• Lou Reedb. 1942USnot in their usual nameAmerican rock musician (1942–2013)
• Steven Spielbergb. 1946USnot in their usual nameAmerican filmmaker (born 1946)
• Allan Simonsenb. 1952DKDanish footballer
• Howard Sternb. 1954USnot in their usual nameAmerican radio and television personality (born 1954)
• Eric Allan Kramerb. 1962USAmerican actor

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).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,601 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Allan?

We estimate roughly 195 thousand people bear Allan (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Allan have the most bearers?

Allan is most frequently recorded in the Philippines, where it is most often spelled allan.

Where is Allan most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Allan is densest in Denmark — about 1 in 365 people — even though Philippines holds more of our records for it.

How common is Allan compared with other names?

In the Philippines, Allan is the 89th most common given name of 462,140 given names recorded there.

Is Allan a male or female name?

Allan is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Allan mean?

Recorded meaning: From the male personal name Alan, of Celtic origin and unknown meaning.