Alcides
Of Greek origin, meaning "mighty force" or "strong leader".
Name Census estimates that about 504 living Americans carry the first name Alcides. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Alcides today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alcides births was 1988 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alcides. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
504
~ 1 in 680,068 Americans
Peak year
1988
17 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,981
Tracked since 1954
Census
Alcides in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,862 people with the first name Alcides, which placed it at #7,930 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,930
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,862 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
89.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alcides
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alcides is Hispanic at 89.8%. The next largest groups are White (6.0%) and Black (3.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Alcides described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Alcides at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino89.8% · 1,672
- White6.0% · 112
- Black or African American3.2% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 5
- Two or more races0.3% · 5
Popularity
Alcides: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alcides from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 94 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Alcides remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alcides by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Alcides during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alcides' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Alcides, while California, Texas, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alcides
The given name Alcides has its roots in Greek mythology and culture. It is derived from the name Alcides, which was an epithet for the Greek hero Heracles, son of Zeus and Alcmene. The name is believed to be a combination of the Greek words "alke" meaning strength or courage, and "kleos" meaning glory or renown.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alcides is found in the writings of the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, who lived around 700 BC. In his work "Theogony," Hesiod refers to Heracles as Alcides, the powerful son of Zeus.
In ancient Roman times, the name Alcides was also used as a reference to Heracles, who was known as Hercules in Roman mythology. The Roman poet Ovid, who lived in the 1st century BC, mentions Alcides in his famous work "Metamorphoses."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Alcides. One of the earliest was Alcides of Miletus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century BC and was a student of the renowned thinker Pythagoras.
In the 16th century, Alcides Gentili, an Italian jurist and writer, was born in 1552. He made significant contributions to the field of international law and is considered one of the founders of modern jurisprudence.
Another notable Alcides was Alcides d'Orbigny, a French naturalist and explorer born in 1802. He is renowned for his extensive research and documentation of the natural history of South America, particularly in the fields of paleontology and zoology.
In the 19th century, Alcides Arguedas, a Bolivian writer and politician born in 1879, gained prominence for his literary works and his advocacy for Indigenous rights in Bolivia.
Lastly, Alcides Ghiggia, a Uruguayan footballer born in 1926, is remembered for scoring the winning goal for Uruguay against Brazil in the final match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup, which is considered one of the greatest upsets in the history of the sport.
People
Alcides + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alcides as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Alcides: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alcides?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 504 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alcides going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 680,068 US residents.
Is Alcides a common name?
We classify Alcides as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 528 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alcides most popular?
The single biggest year for Alcides was 1988, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alcides is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alcides in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,862 people with the name Alcides, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,930 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Alcides in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Alcides?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alcides appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,862 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Alcides?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alcides is Hispanic at 89.8%. The next largest groups are White (6.0%) and Black (3.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Alcides most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Alcides in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.8% (1,672 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Alcides in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alcides a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alcides in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Alcides still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alcides in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Alcides can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Alcides?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Alcides on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.