Alfred

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 8 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Alfred is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French given name538K records spelled Alfred34 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Philippines, Brazil

  Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Alfrëd, Älfrëd, Alfréd, Ålfred, Alfrěd

• Polish given name93K records spelled Alfred49 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Russia, Czechia, United States

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

  Also written Альфред, Al'Fred, Алфред, Альфрэд, Arlie

• a separate given name48K records spelled Alfred3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Switzerland

  Also written Alfréd, Alfrēd

• Finnish given name39K records spelled Alfred3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Estonia, Sweden

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Alfréd

• Albanian given name14K records spelled Alfred7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, United States, Italy, United Kingdom

  Also written Ålfrèd, Àlfred, Alfrėd, Álfřêd, Ålfred

105 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Alfred is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Irish, Anglo-Saxon ‘elf counsel’; imported into Ireland by the English.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In French, Old English name from elements meaning 'elf' + 'counsel'.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In English, from OE "elf-counsel"; first attested Alured 1066 DB

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• From an Old English name derived from elf ‘elf’, ‘supernatural being’ + red ‘counsel’. It was a relatively common name before the Norman Conquest of Britain, being borne most notably by Alfred the Great (849-899), King of Wessex. After the Conquest it was

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In German, a male given name, popular in the 19th century

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Alfred Tennysonb. 1809GBBritish Poet Laureate (1809–1892)
• Alfred Russel Wallaceb. 1823GBBritish naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist (1823–1913)
• Alfred Nobelb. 1833SESwedish chemist and inventor (1833–1896)
• Alfred Sisleyb. 1839FRFrench, British painter (1839–1899)
• Alfred Marshallb. 1842GBBritish economist (1842–1924)
• Alfred Binetb. 1857FRFrench psychologist and inventor of the first usable intelligence test (1857–1911)
• Alfred North Whiteheadb. 1861GBEnglish mathematician and philosopher (1861–1947)
• Alfred Kinseyb. 1894USAmerican sexologist (1894–1956)
• Ray Millandb. 1907GBnot in their usual nameBritish actor (1907–1986)
• Alfred Moisiub. 1929ALAlbanian general and politician; former President of Albania (born 1929)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,546 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Alfred?

We estimate roughly 211 thousand people bear Alfred (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Alfred have the most bearers?

Alfred is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled alfred.

Where is Alfred most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Alfred is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 512 people — even though Germany holds more of our records for it.

How common is Alfred compared with other names?

In Germany, Alfred is the 118th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Alfred a male or female name?

Alfred is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Alfred mean?

Recorded meaning: from the medieval male personal name Alvred, from Old English /Elfr&d, literally 'elf counsel'.