← All names

Allan

Boy name · 4,903 babies recorded · 1974–2025

Allan: 4,903 babies born in Scotland since 1974, given to boys, peaking at 286 births in 1980.

While Allan is primarily the Scottish variant of Alan, deriving from the Breton *Alan* or perhaps the Gaelic *Ailín* (meaning "little rock" or "harmony"), it stands apart as a distinctly Scottish form. Its most celebrated bearer is Allan Ramsay (1686–1758), the pioneering Scottish poet and wig-maker who revived interest in vernacular Scots verse, and later his son, the portrait painter Allan Ramsay, who captured Enlightenment Edinburgh. River Allan in Central Scotland shares the name, though its root may be Celtic for "swift water" rather than the given name. In modern Scotland, Allan has remained more enduringly popular than its Irish equivalent, Allen, and enjoys the added distinction of being a robust surname across the country.