Alpheus
Masculine
Alpheus is the name of a Greek river and also, in a slightly different spelling, of a man in the gospels. The river is the one the Olympic games were held beside, and it is the reason the site was lost for a thousand years.
How old is the name Alpheus?
Alpheus was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Alpheus alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. About 200 people named Alpheus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alpheus most popular?
Alpheus peaked in 1882, reaching #691 nationally. See the whole 1882 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Alpheus
Olympia sits in a river valley in the western Peloponnese, and the games were held there every four years for about a thousand years. When they stopped, the site was abandoned; earthquakes brought down the temples, and then the Alpheus and a tributary repeatedly flooded and covered the whole sanctuary in several meters of silt. That is why it survived. Nobody quarried the stone for other buildings because nobody could see it, and when German excavators dug it out in the nineteenth century they found the workshop where the great statue of Zeus had been made, still recognizable, with the sculptor's cup in it. A river destroyed the place and preserved it in the same action.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The river name is pre-Greek and its sense has not been recovered. The gospel name is a separate word, probably Aramaic, and the two are distinct despite looking identical in English. The record does not say which a family meant.
Pronouncing Alpheus
AL-fee-us
Three syllables with the stress in front. al-FEE-us is also heard and both are current.
Nicknames for Alpheus
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 boys named
- 191624 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #691reached in 1882
- Change vs 2022
- +16.7%7 in 2024, from 6
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.
Alpheuss among us
people named Alpheus 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
Alpheus 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
- Al comes off the front as a short form and needs no explaining anywhere.
- It has a documented ancient history in two separate traditions.
- It is genuinely rare in American records while being entirely readable.
- Two stress patterns are in circulation and the spelling settles neither.
- It reads as a name of a much older American generation, which is either the appeal or the obstacle.
- The two possible sources are unrelated words, so there is no single meaning to give.
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Alpheus
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Alpheuss 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 Alpheus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alpheus in 2025?
- Alpheus is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Alpheus with classmates?
- Alpheus 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 Alpheus? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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