Alda
A feminine name from an Old German source meaning "old" or "wise".
Name Census estimates that about 986 living Americans carry the first name Alda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alda today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alda births was 1918 (191 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alda. 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
986
~ 1 in 347,621 Americans
Peak year
1918
191 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1921 SSA rank
#4,332
Tracked since 1880
Census
Alda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,553 people with the first name Alda, which placed it at #6,321 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
#6,321
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,553 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alda is White at 60.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.1%) and Black (9.1%). 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 Alda 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 Alda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.0% · 1,533
- Hispanic or Latino24.1% · 614
- Black or African American9.1% · 233
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 140
- Two or more races0.9% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Alda
Out of the 4,976 babies given the name Alda since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Alda as a male name
- Ranked #4,332 in 1921
- 5 male births in 1921
- Peak: 1917 (5 births)
Alda as a female name
- Ranked #13,528 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1918 (191 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alda leans strongly female. 2,500 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 54 male bearers (2.1%).
Popularity
Alda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alda from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,245 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alda 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 Alda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aldas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York recorded the most babies named Alda, while North Dakota, Mississippi, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alda
The given name Alda has its origins in the ancient Germanic languages, with roots dating back to the 5th century AD. It is derived from the Old Germanic word "ald," meaning "old" or "aged." This term was often used as a prefix to denote wisdom, respect, and maturity.
In the early medieval period, the name Alda gained popularity among the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish peoples. It was particularly common in regions that are now parts of modern-day Germany, the Netherlands, and England. Variations in spelling, such as Aldah, Aldia, and Aldha, were also found in historical records from this era.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Alda can be found in the medieval English poem "Beowulf," which dates back to around the 8th or 9th century AD. In this epic work, Alda is the name of a minor character, a warrior who fought alongside the legendary hero Beowulf.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Alda. One of the most famous was Alda the Fair (c. 888-929), a German noblewoman who was the second wife of King Louis the Blind of Provence. Another prominent figure was Alda Ferida (c. 1020-1090), a Lombard princess and the wife of Robert Guiscard, the Norman ruler of southern Italy.
In the 12th century, Alda of Sarres (c. 1152-1200) was a French noblewoman who played a significant role in the Third Crusade, serving as a confidante and advisor to Richard the Lionheart, the King of England. Centuries later, Alda Merini (1931-2009) was an acclaimed Italian poet and writer, renowned for her powerful and evocative works.
Additionally, the name Alda has been associated with several fictional characters throughout literature and popular culture. One notable example is Alda the Huntress, a recurring character in the fantasy novels of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, where she is depicted as a skilled archer and warrior.
People
Alda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alda 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
Alda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 986 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alda 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 347,621 US residents.
Is Alda a common name?
We classify Alda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,976 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alda most popular?
The single biggest year for Alda was 1918, when 191 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alda is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,553 people with the name Alda, or 0.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,321 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 Alda 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 Alda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alda leans strongly female. 2,500 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 54 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Alda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alda is White at 60.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.1%) and Black (9.1%). 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 Alda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.0% (1,533 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 Alda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alda a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Alda in the SSA data are female. 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 Alda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alda 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 Alda 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 many people have the name Alda?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.