# Alder (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/alder/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived by alder trees.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,885 |
| US rank (2010) | 8,485 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 79,471 people |
| Change since 2000 | +12% (3,471 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | [ˈɑl.dɚ], 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Older |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Alder in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 90% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 4.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Alder in Switzerland, the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Alder

- Berni Alder, American physicist (1925–2020)
- Ray Alder, American musician
- Jim Alder, British distance runner

## Similar surnames

Alter, Altieri, Aldridge, Aldrich, Alderman, Alderson, Alderete, Alldredge, Aldrete, Aldred, Alderfer, Alatorre.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.