# Alfred (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/alfred/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “elf”, “counsel” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈælfɹəd/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Alfie |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 245,153 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 243,861 / 1,292 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 13,182, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Middle English Alfred, from Old English Ælfrǣd, from ælf (“elf”) + rǣd (“counsel”). Doublet of Alfredo and Avery. Equivalent to elf + rede. The modern pronunciation with /f/ is a spelling pronunciation; the name in Old English was pronounced with [v], as shown in its Middle English descendant Alured (in which u stands for modern v).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | 16 | 3,866 |
| 1975 | 5 | 9,100 |
| 1976 | 9 | 6,057 |
| 1977 | 9 | 6,356 |
| 1978 | 14 | 4,683 |
| 1979 | 11 | 5,760 |
| 1980 | 8 | 7,432 |
| 1981 | 8 | 7,423 |
| 1982 | 6 | 9,256 |
| 1983 | 9 | 6,724 |
| 1986 | 11 | 6,172 |
| 1987 | 7 | 8,798 |
| 1989 | 8 | 8,786 |
| 1991 | 5 | 13,218 |
| 1994 | 5 | 13,504 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 219 | 919 |
| 2012 | 212 | 949 |
| 2013 | 208 | 962 |
| 2014 | 288 | 795 |
| 2015 | 232 | 922 |
| 2016 | 266 | 845 |
| 2017 | 252 | 864 |
| 2018 | 254 | 862 |
| 2019 | 286 | 802 |
| 2020 | 250 | 899 |
| 2021 | 255 | 901 |
| 2022 | 291 | 837 |
| 2023 | 245 | 928 |
| 2024 | 296 | 837 |
| 2025 | 293 | 840 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 365 | 158 |
| 2012 | 375 | 158 |
| 2013 | 430 | 136 |
| 2014 | 511 | 125 |
| 2015 | 552 | 114 |
| 2016 | 589 | 111 |
| 2017 | 592 | 107 |
| 2018 | 616 | 106 |
| 2019 | 645 | 97 |
| 2020 | 635 | 91 |
| 2021 | 739 | 80 |
| 2022 | 706 | 81 |
| 2023 | 678 | 76 |
| 2024 | 657 | 81 |
| 2025 | 682 | 76 |

## In other languages

- Catalan: Alfred
- Chinese: 阿爾弗雷德 /阿尔弗雷德, 艾爾弗雷德 /艾尔弗雷德, 艾佛瑞
- Danish: Alfred
- Dutch: Alfred
- Esperanto: Alfredo
- French: Alfred
- Georgian: ალფრედი
- German: Alfred
- Greek: Αλφρέδος
- Icelandic: Alfreð
- Irish: Ailfrid
- Italian: Alfredo
- Latin: Alfredus
- Latvian: Alfrēds
- Norwegian: Alfred
- Portuguese: Alfredo
- Russian: А́льфред, Альфре́д, А́лфред
- Slovak: Alfréd
- Spanish: Alfredo
- Swedish: Alfred

## People named Alfred

- Alfred Hitchcock, British filmmaker (1899–1980)
- Alfred Tennyson, British Poet Laureate (1809–1892)
- Alfred Adler, Austrian psychotherapist (1870–1937)
- Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist (1823–1913)
- Alfred de Musset, French writer (1810–1857)
- Alfred North Whitehead, English mathematician and philosopher (1861–1947)
- Alfred Wegener, German climatologist and geophysicist (1880–1930)
- Alfred Sisley, French, British painter (1839–1899)
- Alfred de Vigny, French poet, playwright, and novelist (1797–1863)
- Alfred Kastler, French physicist (1902–1984)
- William Alfred Fowler, American nuclear physicist (1911-1995)
- Alfred Marshall, British economist (1842–1924)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.