Alger
Masculine · “Elf spear”
Alger is an Old English name joining an elf to a spear, and it is now attached to a novelist whose books are remembered for teaching the opposite of what they actually contain.
How old is the name Alger?
Alger first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Alger alive today was born around 1930, making them about 95 years old. About 200 people named Alger are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alger most popular?
Alger peaked in 1898, reaching #663 nationally. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aelfgar to Alger
The story of Alger
His novels are the source of the phrase about rising from rags to riches, and they do not describe that. The heroes are honest, brave and hardworking, and none of them rises by working: each is noticed by a wealthy gentleman after some act of courage — stopping a runaway horse, saving a drowning child — and is then given a position, a suit of clothes and a future. The mechanism is patronage and luck, presented as reward for character. The phrase attached to his name describes a doctrine the books do not hold, which is one of the more complete misreadings in American letters.
Meaning
Elf spear
The Old English elements are aelf, an elf or supernatural being, and gar, a spear. Elf compounds were ordinary and complimentary in Germanic naming, and the same first element stands in Alfred and Alvin.
How the name formed
- Aelfgar
- Alger
Pronouncing Alger
AL-jer
Two syllables, stress at the front. The g is soft.
Nicknames for Alger
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 191930 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #663reached in 1898
- Change vs 1978
- 0.0%5 in 2008, from 5
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.
Algers among us
people named Alger 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
Alger 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 meaning is settled and takes apart cleanly into two words.
- It is read correctly on sight.
- It is Old English, which almost nobody expects from it.
- The novelist's name is attached to the word permanently.
- It will be heard as Algernon or Elgar.
- The name sits in one American period and has not returned.
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Alger
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Algers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Alger are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alger in 2025?
- Alger is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Alger with classmates?
- Alger will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
Anthony#46 · Andrew#73 · Alexander#30 · Aaron#80 · Adam#101 · Arthur#87 · Albert#614 · Austin#113
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alger? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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