Alvah
Masculine
Alvah is given to both — 1,808 boys and 72 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
The most famous American to carry this name carried it in the middle and used it. Thomas Alva Edison signed himself with the initial his whole life and was called Al as a young man — a middle name doing the work a first name usually does, which is common enough among people who dislike what they were given first.
How old is the name Alvah?
Alvah was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Alvah alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 400 people named Alvah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alvah most popular?
Alvah peaked in 1885, reaching #364 nationally. See the whole 1885 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alvah to Alvah
The story of Alvah
The people the biblical bearer belonged to were the neighbors nobody could ignore. Edom lay south-east of Judah, its founder is presented in the text as the elder brother of Israel's own, and the relationship in the narrative is one of permanent grievance between relatives rather than between strangers. The text repeatedly calls them brothers and repeatedly reports fighting them. Later writers took the name as shorthand for an enemy who ought to have been an ally, which is a considerably more uncomfortable category than a straightforward foreigner.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name appears in a genealogy in Genesis and its meaning is not established. Proposals involving height and involving evil have both been offered and neither can be supported from the text or the language.
How the name formed
- Alvah
- Alva
Pronouncing Alvah
AL-vuh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The final h is silent and marks the name as scriptural rather than changing anything audible.
Nicknames for Alvah
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
- 191545 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #364reached in 1885
- Change vs 2016
- −16.7%5 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.
Alvahs among us
people named Alvah 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
Alvah 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 sits inside it as a completely familiar short form.
- It is genuinely rare with one very distinguished American association.
- The spelling gives no trouble at all.
- No meaning can be given, whatever other pages assert.
- The spelling is recorded for a few girls, but nearly every child with it is a boy.
- The generation that used it is now gone entirely.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Alvah
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Alvahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Alvah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alvah in 2025?
- Alvah is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Alvah with classmates?
- Alvah 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 Alvah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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