Alfred
Masculine · “Elf counsel”
Alfred is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 243,861 boys against 1,292 girls since 1880. See Alfred as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Alfred alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 87,000 people named Alfred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alfred most popular?
Alfred peaked in 1882, reaching #32 nationally. Today it ranks #840, 808 places below that high. See the whole 1882 chart.
Alfred appears on these lists:
- Classics hiding in plain sight
- British invasion: UK favorites still rare in the US
- Greatest Generation names (born 1901–1927)
- Grandpa names ready for the playground
- Downton Abbey names, upstairs and down
- Names that belong entirely to the 1880s
- all guides
Works in British families too:
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19244,929 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #32reached in 1882
- Change vs 2022
- +0.7%293 in 2025, from 291
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Office for National Statistics. Sources
Alfreds among us
people named Alfred are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 5,830 born in 2025 was named Alfred
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Alfred has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Alfred is headed
Alfred should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Alfred beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alfred in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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.
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Alfred
Masculine · #840 in the U.S.
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 87,000 people named Alfred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alfred in 2025?
- Alfred ranks #840 among US boy names in 2025, with 293 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alfred?
- About 1 in every 5,830 US boys born in 2025 was named Alfred — 293 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alfred with classmates?
- Alfred will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alfred
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Casen#840 · Benny#840 · Yadiel#838 · Alvin#838 · Coleson#843 · Dakari#837 · Conor#843 · Ben#843
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.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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