Alfanso
Derived from the Spanish form of the Germanic name "Alfonso", meaning "noble and ready".
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Alfanso. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Alfanso today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alfanso births was 1930 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alfanso. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Alfanso. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1930
5 babies that year
Average age
-
1930 SSA rank
#4,009
Tracked since 1930
Census
Alfanso in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 219 people with the first name Alfanso, which placed it at #36,320 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
#36,320
National first-name rank
People counted
219
219 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
75.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alfanso
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alfanso is Hispanic at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and White (4.6%). 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 Alfanso 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 Alfanso at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino75.3% · 165
- Black or African American18.3% · 40
- White4.6% · 10
- Two or more races1.4% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
Popularity
Alfanso: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Alfanso 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 Alfanso during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Alfanso
The name Alfanso has its origins in the Germanic language, derived from the words "alf" meaning "elf" and "ansi" meaning "divine ruler." It first emerged during the Middle Ages in regions such as Spain, Italy, and parts of France.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Alfanso can be found in the 8th century text "Historia Regum Britanniae" by Geoffrey of Monmouth, where it appears as a variant spelling of the name Alfonso. This text chronicles the legendary kings of Britain and may have influenced the popularity of the name in subsequent centuries.
In the 11th century, the name gained prominence with the birth of Alfonso VI, King of León and Castile (1040-1109). His reign marked a significant period in the Reconquista, the struggle to reclaim Iberian territories from Moorish rule. Alfonso VI's military victories and patronage of the arts contributed to the widespread use of the name across the Iberian Peninsula.
Another notable figure was Alfonso X, known as "El Sabio" (The Wise), who ruled as King of Castile and León from 1252 to 1284. Alfonso X was a prolific patron of literature, science, and the arts, and his court in Toledo became a center of learning and cultural exchange. His contributions to the development of the Castilian language and legal codes further cemented the name's significance in Spanish history.
In Italy, the name Alfanso was popular among the nobility, particularly in the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily. One prominent example was Alfonso I of Aragon (1396-1458), who also ruled as Alfonso V of Aragon and I of Naples. His reign saw the flourishing of the Aragonese Renaissance and the patronage of humanist scholars and artists.
Beyond the Iberian Peninsula and Italy, the name Alfanso also found its way into other European cultures. In England, there was Alfonso Ferrabosco (c. 1543-1588), an Italian composer and musician who served at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. In France, Alfonso Doria (1520-1573) was a prominent admiral and nobleman from Genoa who played a significant role in the Italian Wars of the 16th century.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who bore the name Alfanso, highlighting its widespread use and significance across various cultures and time periods.
People
Alfanso + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alfanso 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
Alfanso: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alfanso?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alfanso 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 - US residents.
Is Alfanso a common name?
We classify Alfanso as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alfanso most popular?
The single biggest year for Alfanso was 1930, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alfanso is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alfanso in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 219 people with the name Alfanso, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,320 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 Alfanso 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 Alfanso?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alfanso appears almost entirely male. Of the 218 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Alfanso?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alfanso is Hispanic at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.3%) and White (4.6%). 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 Alfanso most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Alfanso in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.3% (165 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 Alfanso in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alfanso a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alfanso 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 Alfanso still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alfanso 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 Alfanso 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 Americans are named Alfanso?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.