# Alger (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 6,306 |
| US rank (2010) | 5,516 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 48,961 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.3% (6,047 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, when pronounced with a soft g, from the Middle English personal name Alger, borrowed from Old French Aug(i)er, of Germanic origin, from *Adalgari, composed of *aþal (“noble”) + *gaiʀ (“spear”). Compare Auger. * When pronounced with a hard g it is a variant of Algar. As a Scottish and English surname, it may be a variant of Algeo.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Alger 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) | 93% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.5% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Alger in the United States.

## People named Alger

- Horatio Alger, American novelist (1832–1899)
- Bruce Alger, American politician (1918-2015)

## Similar surnames

Allgeier, Alegria, Alegre, Algarin, Ahlgren, Allegra, Alcaraz, Alcorn, Alkire, Aleshire, Alcorta.

## 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.