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    The surname Alger

    A surname, carried by 6,306 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex A426

    Alger: #5,516 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Alger #5,516, 6,306 people Alger: #5,516 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Alger #5,516, 6,306 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Alger is more common than 96.6% of them.

    Origin

    * 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.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 6,306 people named Alger in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 48,961 Americans. That is up 4.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 6,047.

    #5,516
    rank among US surnames
    6,306
    people in 2010
    2.1
    per 100,000 Americans
    +4.3%
    change since 2000 (was #5,299)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #5,507Myer6,31748,875
    #5,508Parsley6,31548,891
    #5,510Passmore6,31448,899
    #5,511Manns6,31248,914
    #5,512Overby6,31148,922
    #5,513Morehouse6,30948,937
    #5,514Kocher6,30848,945

    Who is named Alger

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    93% of people named Alger identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 2.1% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 93%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
    • Two or more races 2.1%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 1.4%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.5%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Algers

    2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

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

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Alger

    Alger has the Soundex code A426, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code A426.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Alger come from?
    * 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…
    How common is the surname Alger?
    6,306 people in the United States had the surname Alger in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 48,961 Americans. It ranked 5,516th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Alger?
    In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Alger identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Alger?
    Horatio Alger, American novelist (1832–1899), followed by Bruce Alger.
    Where is the surname Alger most common?
    Wikidata records people named Alger in the United States.
    Is the surname Alger getting more or less common?
    More common. 6,047 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 6,306 in 2010, up 4.3%.
    Is Alger also a first name?
    Yes. Alger is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.