Meaning and background
The story behind Alistair
Alistair is a Scottish anglicised spelling of Gaelic Alasdair. That Gaelic form belongs to the wider Alexander family, but Alistair has its own longstanding Scottish identity. In ordinary British English the final r is often not sounded unless the accent is rhotic. Its first-syllable stress makes the full three-syllable name easy to shorten to Ally, another historically documented Scottish form.
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About Alistair
Recorded as a dog’s name
Alistair appears in 15 dog licence records in the 2022 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/ælɪstɛɹ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/ælɪstɛɹ/ · primary stress on syllable 1AE1 L IH0 S T EH2 R
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — all seven available extract years, retrieved 24 October 2026 — Recorded name spellings in NYC licence-period rows, extract years 2016–2018, 2022–2024 and 2026. Evidence selects one stated year per name. Annual snapshots overlap; never sum them as unique dogs. No national popularity, etymology or owner naming-intent claim.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.