Alfard
The pearl; a brilliant star in the constellation of Hydra.
Name Census estimates that about 14 living Americans carry the first name Alfard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Alfard today is around 87 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alfard births was 1928 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alfard. 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
- • The typical person named Alfard is about 87 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Alfards were born before 1949.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Alfard. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
14
~ 1 in 24,482,453 Americans
Peak year
1928
9 babies that year
Average age
87
years old
1949 SSA rank
#3,697
Tracked since 1916
Popularity
Alfard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alfard from the 1910s through to the 1940s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 36 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Alfard remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alfard 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 Alfard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alfard
The name Alfard originates from the Arabic language and can be traced back to the 8th century. It is derived from the Arabic word "al-fard," meaning "the unique one" or "the singular one." The name was particularly popular among Arab communities in the Middle East and North Africa during the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alfard comes from the 9th century, when an Arab scholar and astronomer named Alfard ibn Muhammad al-Qurashi made significant contributions to the field of astronomy. He is known for his work on the motion of the moon and the calculation of lunar eclipses.
In the 11th century, Alfard al-Andalusi was a renowned poet and philosopher from the Andalusian region of Spain. His poetic works celebrated the beauty of nature and the complexities of human emotions, earning him widespread acclaim during his lifetime.
During the 12th century, Alfard ibn Yahya al-Jazari was a renowned engineer and inventor from the city of Jazira, located in present-day Turkey. He is best known for his groundbreaking work on automata, hydraulic machines, and mechanical clocks, which greatly influenced the development of mechanical engineering in the Islamic world.
In the 14th century, Alfard al-Maghribi was a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Morocco. His legal rulings and interpretations of Islamic law had a significant impact on the religious and cultural landscape of the region.
Another notable figure with the name Alfard was Alfard al-Masri, a 15th-century Egyptian mathematician and astronomer. He made important contributions to the field of trigonometry and wrote several influential treatises on astronomical observations and calculations.
While the name Alfard has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and regions throughout history. However, specific details about its usage and popularity in different parts of the world are not widely documented or readily available.
People
Alfard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alfard 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
Alfard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alfard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alfard 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 24,482,453 US residents.
Is Alfard a common name?
We classify Alfard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 34% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 91 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alfard most popular?
The single biggest year for Alfard was 1928, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alfard is about 87 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Alfard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alfard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alfard 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 Alfard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alfard 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 Alfard 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are called Alfard?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.