Allan

Meaning of Allan

Allan is the sturdier, double-l cousin of Alan, a Celtic-Breton import that reached Scotland in the Middle Ages and spread across Europe under the Latinized banner Alanus, carrying the meanings “handsome” and “rock.” The name evokes Breton heroics, Saint Allan of Quimper and, in modern culture, figures as varied as jazz virtuoso Allan Holdsworth and Nobel laureate Allan M. Cormack, giving it intellectual edge without losing approachability. In the United States it peaked just outside the Top 200 during the baby-boom years and has since settled into a quiet mid-list rhythm—about 300 newborns receive it annually—offering parents a familiar yet less crowded alternative to the trendier Alan or Allen. With its crisp two-syllable cadence and the subtle Latin lilt that lets it glide through Spanish-speaking streets as easily as Scottish highlands, Allan balances old-world gravitas and contemporary understatement in a single, unpretentious package.