Alan (given name) masculine given name in the Welsh language; although it is not directly related to "Alan" (it is derived from Proto-Celtic "*alouno-" meaning either "nourishing" or "wandering"), today it is generally used as a variant form of the English name. An earlier bearer of this name is Alun of Dyfed, a character in the "Mabinogion". The name became popular in modern times when it was adopted as a bardic name by John Blackwell, a 19th-century Welsh poet. The short form of "Alan" is "Al". This name is a short form of numerous other etymologically unrelated names that begin with this syllable.
Kennedy (given name) popular. In 1990, the United States Census Bureau undertook a study of the 1990 United States Census, and released a sample of data concerning the most popular names. According to this sample of 6.3 million people (who had 5,494 unique first names), "Kennedy" did not even appear among the 4,275 feminine names, or the 1,219 masculine names. Kennedy (given name) Kennedy is a unisex given name in the English language. The name is an Anglicised form of a masculine given name in the Irish language. According to Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, the given name "Kennedy" is an Anglicised form