Alistair

Look up Alistair in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Alistair (also Alasdair and variants) is a male given name. Alasdair is the Scottish Gaelic spelling of the name, in origin the Gaelic form of the name Alexander (Greek Αλέξανδρος Aléxandros). Also common is the anglicised spelling Alistair.^[1]

Originally a Scottish given name, it became widespread throughout the Anglosphere during the 19th and 20th centuries. Previous to that, it was considered exclusively a Scottish name.

The Scottish Clan MacAlister is on record as a branch of Clan Donald from the mid-16th century. Its eponymous founder is traditionally held to be Alasdair Mòr (fl. 1250s), a younger son of Domhnall mac Raghnaill.

Variations

Spelling variants of the name include: ^[1][2]

Alasdair, Alasdhair, Alastair, Alastar, Alaster, Alastor, Alaisdair, Alaistair, Alaister, Aleister, Alestair, Alester, Alisdair, Alistair, Alistaire, Alistar, Alister, Allastair, Allaster, Allastir, Allester, Allistair, Allistaire, Allistar, Allister, Allistir, Allysdair, Allystair, Allyster, Alysdair, Alysdare, Alystair, Alyster, Aldair

People

Medieval

• Alasdair Mòr (fl. 1250s)
• Alexander Og MacDonald (d. 1308)
• Alexander of Argyll (d. 1310)
• Alexander of Islay, Earl of Ross (d. 1449)

Modern

• Alister MacKenzie (1870–1934), British golf course designer
• Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), British occultist
• Alastair Sim (1900–1976), comedy actor^[3]
• Alistair Cooke (1908–2004), journalist and broadcaster^[4]
• Ally MacLeod (1931–2004) Scottish footballer and national team manager
• Alastair, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1914–1943), a great-grandson of Queen Victoria
• Alistair MacLean (1922–1987), Scottish novelist
• Alistair Taylor (1935–2004), personal assistant to the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein

living people (as of 2013)

• Alistair Abell, Canadian voice actor
• Alistair Appleton, television presenter
• Al Baxter, Australian rugby union player ^[5]
• Alistair Begg, American pastor, author, and speaker
• Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former director of communications
• Alistair Campbell, Zimbabwean cricketer
• Alastair Clarkson, head coach of Hawthorn Football Club
• Alastair Cook, English cricketer
• Alistair Darling, British politician^[6]
• Alastair Fothergill, British film producer, best known for BBC nature documentaries
• Alastair Gillespie, former Canadian politician who held several cabinet positions in the 1970s
• Alistair Hargreaves, South African rugby player
• Ally McCoist, Scottish footballer
• Alistair McGowan, English impressionist and comedian
• Alistair McGregor, Scottish field hockey goalkeeper
• Alastair Mackenzie, Scottish actor most famous for playing Archie MacDonald in Monarch of the Glen
• Alistair Overeem, MMA fighter
• Alastair Reynolds, Welsh science fiction author
• Alastair Robinson, Anglo-American field botanist
• Alistair Sinclair, computer scientist
• Alastair Stewart, ITV News presenter

pseudonym

• Alastair, pseudonym of Baron Hans Henning Voigt, a German artist

In fiction

• Alastair, a demon on the television series Supernatural
• Alistair Tudsbury, a British radio personality from The Winds of War
• Alistair, a main character from the video game Dragon Age: Origins
• Alistair, a vampire from Breaking Dawn novel
• Alistair Leslie Graham, better known as Ali G, one of three fictional characters created and acted by Sacha Baron Cohen
• Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Brigadier of UNIT on British science fiction show Doctor Who
• Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, a character in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
• Alistair Smythe, a Spider-Man villain
• Alistair Crane, a villainous patriarch and businessman on TV's Passions
• Alister Fletcher, Lara Croft's assistant from Tomb Raider Legend and Tomb Raider Underworld
• General Alister Azimuth, the anti-hero in Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
• Alister Mundy, a character acted by Fred Astaire in the TV series It Takes a Thief

References