Alfonse
Noble, brave, and ready; a name of Visigothic Germanic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 433 living Americans carry the first name Alfonse. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Alfonse today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alfonse births was 1917 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alfonse. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Alfonse with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Alfonse is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Alfonses were born before 1971.
People living today
433
~ 1 in 791,580 Americans
Peak year
1917
51 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,321
Tracked since 1906
Census
Alfonse in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 559 people with the first name Alfonse, which placed it at #19,094 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
#19,094
National first-name rank
People counted
559
559 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alfonse
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alfonse is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.8%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Alfonse 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 Alfonse at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.5% · 405
- Black or African American13.8% · 77
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 46
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 20
- Two or more races1.1% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 5
Popularity
Alfonse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alfonse from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 384 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
Alfonse 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 Alfonse during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alfonses live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Alfonse, while Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 93 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alfonse
The name Alfonse has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the elements "alf" meaning "elf" and "nanth" meaning "brave" or "ready." It emerged as a personal name during the medieval period, initially popularized among the Visigoths in the Iberian Peninsula.
The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the 7th century, when it was borne by Alfons I, a Visigothic king who ruled parts of modern-day Spain and Portugal from 693 to 757. This early royal association contributed to the name's subsequent widespread use across Europe.
In the 9th century, the name gained prominence in the Frankish Kingdom, where it was adopted by several members of the Carolingian dynasty, including Alphonse I, Count of Toulouse (795-837), and his grandson, Alphonse II (865-929), who became King of Aquitaine.
The name's popularity further increased during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions under the influence of the Catholic Church. One notable bearer was Alfonso X, known as "the Wise" (1221-1284), a renowned king of Castile and León, who oversaw significant advancements in literature, law, and astronomy during his reign.
Another historical figure of note was Alfonso de Liguori (1696-1787), an Italian Catholic bishop and founder of the Redemptorist order, who was canonized as a saint in 1839. His writings and teachings on moral theology and spirituality had a profound impact on the Church.
In the realm of literature, the name is associated with Alfonso X's contributions to the development of the Castilian language and the compilation of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, a collection of religious songs and poetry.
Other notable bearers of the name include Alfonso Cuarón (born 1961), the acclaimed Mexican filmmaker known for his work on films like "Gravity" and "Roma," and Alfonso Arau (born 1932), a Mexican actor, director, and producer best known for his seminal film "Like Water for Chocolate."
Over the centuries, the name Alfonse has undergone various spelling variations, including Alfonso, Alphonse, and Alfons, reflecting its diverse cultural and linguistic influences across Europe and beyond.
People
Alfonse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alfonse 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
Alfonse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alfonse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 433 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alfonse 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 791,580 US residents.
Is Alfonse a common name?
We classify Alfonse as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,392 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alfonse most popular?
The single biggest year for Alfonse was 1917, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alfonse is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alfonse in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 559 people with the name Alfonse, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,094 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 Alfonse 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 Alfonse?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alfonse leans strongly male. 546 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 6 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Alfonse?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alfonse is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.8%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Alfonse most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alfonse in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.5% (405 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 Alfonse in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alfonse a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alfonse 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 Alfonse still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alfonse 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 Alfonse 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 Alfonse as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.