Eldred
Masculine · “old counsel”
Eldred is given to both — 3,746 boys and 294 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Eldred is one of the Old English names that survived the Norman Conquest, which most of them did not. Within a generation of 1066 the English had largely stopped naming children Aethelstan and Wulfric and started naming them William and Robert; a handful of the old names hung on, and this is one.
How old is the name Eldred?
Eldred first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Eldred alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 1,000 people named Eldred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Eldred most popular?
Eldred peaked in 1917, reaching #527 nationally. See the whole 1917 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ealdraed to Eldred
The story of Eldred
The most consequential Eldred was a churchman. Ealdred, Archbishop of York, went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, negotiated with popes, crowned Harold, and then crowned William the Conqueror at Westminster on Christmas Day of 1066 — the only man to place the crown on both kings. He kept his see afterwards, which very few English bishops managed. The name he carried went quiet for centuries and came back in the nineteenth, when English families began reviving Old English names on purpose, and it reached America in that revival rather than by descent.
Meaning
old counsel
Old English eald, old, and raed, counsel or advice. The second element is the same one in Alfred and Mildred, and it meant wisdom of the sort a council needs rather than age.
How the name formed
- Ealdraed
- Eldred
Pronouncing Eldred
EL-dred
Two syllables with the weight at the front. There is no second reading and nothing to correct.
Nicknames for Eldred
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 1921122 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #527reached in 1917
- Change vs 2001
- 0.0%6 in 2012, 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.
Eldreds among us
people named Eldred 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
Eldred 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
- Both halves are readable, so the name is said correctly at first sight.
- It has a documented English history reaching back before the Conquest, which very few given names do.
- The meaning is specific and unusual: counsel rather than strength or beauty.
- It will be heard as Alfred and Edward by turns.
- The spelling is recorded for girls as well as boys in the United States.
- It reads as a name of the Victorian revival rather than a current one.
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Eldred
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Eldreds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Eldred are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Eldred in 2025?
- Eldred is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Eldred with classmates?
- Eldred will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More E names
The most-given names starting with E, all years combined.
Edward#224 · Eric#273 · Ethan#24 · Eugene#943 · Elijah#7 · Ernest#1038 · Earl#2230 · Evan#153
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Eldred? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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