Alan

• IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ælən

From Old Breton Alan, name of early Breton saints, of disputed origin and meaning; brought to England by Normans. It may have been the name of a Celtic deity, the brother of Bran, Welsh Alawn, Celtic Alun, ‘harmony’. As an early Irish name, perhaps connected with ail (“noble”). Compare French Alain.

• Allan, Allen, Alen

Alan (plural Alans)

1. A male given name from the Celtic languages.
   • 1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Reeve's Tale”, in Nevill Coghill, transl., The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977:

     He grabbed at Alan by his Adam's apple,
     And Alan grabbed him back in furious grapple
     And clenched his fist and bashed him on the nose.

   • 1910, P. G. Wodehouse, The Man Upstairs, and Other Stories, BiblioBazaar, LLC, published 2008, →ISBN, page 24:

     I could pose as an artist all right; so I took the studio. Also the name of Alan Beverley. My own is Bill Bates. I had often wondered what it would feel like to be called by some name like Alan Beverley or Cyril Trevelyan.

2. A surname.

From Latin Alānī, from Ancient Greek Ἀλανοί (Alanoí), from Proto-Sarmatian *Allān.

Alan (plural Alans or Alani)

1. (historical) A member of a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.

Alan (plural Alans)

1. A male given name from Hebrew, variant of Elon.

• Anal, Lana, Nala, anal, anal., lana, nala

• IPA^(key): [ˈalan]

Alan m anim

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Alan

Unadapted borrowing from English Alan.

Alan m

1. a male given name from English, equivalent to English Alan

• Alano
• alão

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɫan/

Alan m pers (genitive singular Alana, nominative plural Alanovia, declension pattern of chlap)

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Alan

• “Alan”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2024

Alan

1. a male given name

• Alun
• Alawn

• IPA^(key): /ˈalan/

Alan m

1. a male given name, feminine equivalent Alana

Heini Gruffudd (2010) Enwau Cymraeg i Blant / Welsh Names for Children‎^[1], Y Lolfa, →ISBN, page 12