Alda
Feminine · “old”
Alda is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 4,966 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
The Germanic ald is the English word old, and it was a compliment. In a society that ran on inherited standing, calling someone old meant venerable, senior, entitled to be listened to — which is why the same word gives English alderman, from ealdorman, the elder who governed a shire.
How old is the name Alda?
Alda was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Alda alive today was born around 1923, making them about 102 years old. About 1,200 people named Alda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alda most popular?
Alda peaked in 1901, reaching #448 nationally. See the whole 1901 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ald to Alda
The story of Alda
Alda is chiefly Italian and Portuguese, arriving there with the Lombards and Visigoths along with Gilda, Elda and Aldo — Germanic names that naturalized so completely in Romance languages that they now sound native. It reached American records with Italian and Portuguese emigration in the late nineteenth century. It goes to boys as well as girls, which is what happens to short names ending in -a in a language that has no grammatical gender to enforce anything.
Meaning
old; venerable
Germanic ald means old, and it is the direct ancestor of the English word. In naming it carried the sense of seniority and authority rather than of age, and it opens or closes a family of names — Aldo, Alda, Aldous, Aldrich. The English ealdorman, an elder who governed a shire, became alderman and is still a civic title. The derivation is not disputed.
How the name formed
- ald
- Alda
Related forms: Alda · Alda · Aldo
Pronouncing Alda
AL-duh
AL-duh, two syllables, stress at the front, the second vowel reduced. Italian gives both vowels full value, AHL-dah. There is no competing reading in either language.
Nicknames for Alda
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1918191 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #448reached in 1901
- Change vs 2011
- −14.3%6 in 2023, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Alda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alda in Italian — same name
- Alda in Portuguese — same name
- Aldo in Italian — related form
Aldas among us
people named Alda are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Alda sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The Germanic element is documented and its connection to the English word old is easy to explain.
- Four letters and two syllables, said correctly on first sight.
- It works for either child, which the record confirms.
- The meaning is old, which is accurate and is not what most families are looking for in a child's name.
- Alma, Elda and Ada are all close enough to be substituted.
- The name belongs firmly to an earlier American century and has not returned.
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Alda
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Aldas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Alda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alda in 2025?
- Alda is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Alda with classmates?
- Alda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
Anna#107 · Ashley#164 · Amanda#493 · Amy#257 · Angela#408 · Alice#65 · Ann#1076 · Andrea#235
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alda? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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