Alfhild
A feminine Scandinavian name meaning "elf battle" or "fairy fight".
Name Census estimates that about 1 living Americans carry the first name Alfhild. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alfhild today is around 108 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alfhild births was 1916 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alfhild. 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 Alfhild is about 108 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Alfhilds were born before 1928.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Alfhild. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
1
~ 1 in 342,754,338 Americans
Peak year
1916
14 babies that year
Average age
108
years old
1922 SSA rank
#4,454
Tracked since 1899
Popularity
Alfhild: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alfhild from the 1890s through to the 1920s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 54 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alfhild 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 Alfhild 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 Alfhild
The name Alfhild originates from Old Norse, a North Germanic language spoken by the Norse peoples during the Viking Age. It is a compound name derived from the elements "alf" meaning "elf" and "hildr" meaning "battle" or "war". The name can be interpreted as "elf battle" or "battle elf".
Alfhild was a popular name among the Vikings, and it can be found in several Old Norse sagas and poems. One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name is in the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse anonymous poems preserved in the Codex Regius manuscript from the 13th century.
In Norse mythology, Alfhild was the name of a valkyrie, one of the female figures who decided the fate of warriors in battle and brought the fallen to Valhalla. This association with a mythological figure likely contributed to the name's popularity during the Viking Age.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Alfhild was a Norwegian princess who lived in the 11th century. She was the daughter of King Harald Hardrada and is mentioned in the Heimskringla, a collection of sagas written by the Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century.
Another notable figure with the name Alfhild was a Swedish noblewoman who lived in the 13th century. She was married to Birger Jarl, a prominent Swedish statesman and the founder of Stockholm. Their son, Valdemar, became the King of Sweden in 1250.
In the 14th century, an Icelandic woman named Alfhild Gudmundsdottir became known for her poetry and is considered one of the most prominent female poets of the Icelandic Middle Ages. Her work is preserved in the Möðruvallabók manuscript from the 15th century.
A more recent historical figure with the name Alfhild was Alfhild Agrell, a Swedish writer and feminist who lived from 1849 to 1923. She was an influential figure in the women's rights movement in Sweden and published several novels and works of non-fiction.
While the name Alfhild fell out of common usage in modern times, it has seen a resurgence in some Scandinavian countries in recent decades, likely due to its historical and mythological connections to Norse culture.
People
Alfhild + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alfhild 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
Alfhild: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alfhild?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alfhild 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 342,754,338 US residents.
Is Alfhild a common name?
We classify Alfhild as "Very Rare". It ranks above 3.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 89 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alfhild most popular?
The single biggest year for Alfhild was 1916, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alfhild is about 108 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 Alfhild in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alfhild a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alfhild 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 Alfhild still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alfhild 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 Alfhild 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 have Alfhild as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.