Alfred
Feminine · “Elf counsel”
Alfred is given to boys far more often — 243,861 boys against 1,292 girls since 1880. See Alfred as a boy name
Alfred is the only English king anybody calls the Great, and he is the reason the name never quite went away. He is also, unusually for a ruler of his century, someone whose own voice survives: he translated books himself and wrote a preface explaining why he had to.
How old is the name Alfred?
Alfred first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Alfred alive today was born around 1937, making them about 88 years old. About 600 people named Alfred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alfred most popular?
Alfred peaked in 1931, reaching #1127 nationally. See the whole 1931 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aelfraed to Alfred
The story of Alfred
The preface is the remarkable thing. Alfred came to a kingdom that had been taken apart by Viking armies, and when he had finished fighting he wrote that learning had collapsed so far that there was hardly a man south of the Humber who could translate a letter from Latin into English, and that he could not remember a single one south of the Thames when he came to the throne. His answer was to have the books he thought most necessary put into the language everyone could understand, and to do some of the translating himself, which no other early medieval king is known to have done. He also built towns, reformed the army and issued a law code that begins by quoting the Ten Commandments. The name stayed in use through the Norman period when almost every other English one was dropped, and was revived hard by the Victorians.
Meaning
Elf counsel
Old English aelf and raed, advice or counsel. The elves in question were not the small decorative kind; they were powerful and dangerous beings whose goodwill mattered, and a name meaning advised by elves was a claim to good judgment from a source outside the family. The same raed stands at the end of Conrad and Mildred, and the same aelf at the front of Alvin and Elvira.
How the name formed
- Aelfraed
- Alfred
Related forms: Alfred · Alfred · Alfredo · Alfredo · Alfred · Alfred
Pronouncing Alfred
AL-frid
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The second is reduced almost to nothing in ordinary speech, which is why it can be heard as Alfrid or Alfurd. Italian and Spanish add a vowel and move the stress to the middle.
Nicknames for Alfred
High
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
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 193140 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1127reached in 1931
- Change vs 1989
- −37.5%5 in 1994, from 8
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.
Alfred in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Alfred in German — same name
- Alfred in French — same name
- Alfredo in Italian — same name
- Alfredo in Spanish — same name
- Alfred in Swedish — same name
- Alfred in Polish — same name
Alfreds among us
people named Alfred 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
Alfred 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
- It has been in continuous English use for more than eleven hundred years, which almost no other name can claim.
- Four short forms in four different registers, from the blunt Alf to the warm Freddie.
- It is spelled the same way in German, French, Swedish and Polish, and recognizable in Italian and Spanish.
- The name is on record for girls as well as boys in small numbers, so it is not quite the fixed signal people assume.
- It reads as an older man's name to many Americans, though that has begun to shift back.
- Fred is shared with Frederick, so the everyday form gives no clue what is on the certificate.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Alfred to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Alfred? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Alfred
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Alfreds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Alfred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alfred in 2025?
- Alfred is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Alfred with classmates?
- Alfred 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 Alfred? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alfred and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle