Meaning of the nameAlan

Alan is a male name taken from English, going back to the Old Breton Alan, and its origin and meaning are debated.

Meaning

The meaning of Alan is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

People (2022): 203,321
Rank in Brazil: #158
Median age: 26 years
2010 Census: 207,442; people

Alan in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Alan, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1990s (65,793 people).

1,533 women 201,788 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Alan is most common

States with the highest share of people named Alan in the population, in the 2022 Census.

Amapá 0.157%
Pará 0.139%
Bahia 0.130%
Acre 0.125%
Rio de Janeiro 0.122%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	42,427	0.096%
Rio de Janeiro	19,521	0.122%
Bahia	18,342	0.130%
Minas Gerais	18,254	0.089%
Paraná	12,792	0.112%
Pará	11,253	0.139%
Pernambuco	8,580	0.095%
Rio Grande do Sul	8,134	0.075%
Santa Catarina	7,536	0.099%
Ceará	7,031	0.080%
Maranhão	6,135	0.091%
Goiás	5,519	0.078%
Paraíba	3,856	0.097%
Amazonas	3,820	0.097%
Mato Grosso	3,496	0.096%
Espírito Santo	3,441	0.090%
Alagoas	3,312	0.106%
Rio Grande do Norte	3,223	0.098%
Piauí	2,948	0.090%
Distrito Federal	2,816	0.100%
Mato Grosso do Sul	2,642	0.096%
Sergipe	2,616	0.118%
Rondônia	1,692	0.107%
Amapá	1,151	0.157%
Tocantins	1,135	0.075%
Acre	1,039	0.125%
Roraima	610	0.096%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Alan

Wiktionary records Alan as a borrowing from English Alan without adaptation and links the English name to the Old Breton Alan, of debated origin and meaning, brought to England by the Normans. Behind the Name also says the meaning is not known for certain: the name may be of Brittonic origin, with the sense of 'little rock', or come from the name of the Alans, an Iranian people; Wiktionary adds a possible link with the Irish ail, 'noble'. Wiktionary lists Alano as a related term in Portuguese and compares the name to the French Alain. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 203,321 people named Alan, with a median age of 26. The name is almost always male, peaked among people born in the 1990s and, proportionally, is most common in Amapá.

It is the most common spelling in the group and the same as the English name.

Other spellings of Alan

Spelling	People (2022)
Alan	203,321
Allan	46,920

Sources

Wiktionary: Alan · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Behind the Name: Alan · behindthename.com · origin
Wiktionary: Allan · en.wiktionary.org · spelling

Questions about the name Alan

What does the name Alan mean?

The meaning of Alan is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

How many people are named Alan in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 203,321 people with the first name Alan, which ranks it number 158 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1990s.

Is Alan a boy's or a girl's name?

Alan is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 1,533 women and 201,788 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Alan?

Alan is a name of Celtic and English origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Alan most common?

Proportionally, in Amapá: 0.157% of the state's population is named Alan (1,151 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Alan?

Allan. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

More names of Celtic origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Alan with a source. See the methodology.