Alonzo
Derived from a German name meaning "prepared for battle".
Name Census estimates that about 32,242 living Americans carry the first name Alonzo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Alonzo today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alonzo births was 2022 (651 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alonzo. 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 Alonzo with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Alonzo is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 154 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
32K
~ 1 in 10,631 Americans
Peak year
2022
651 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#512
Tracked since 1880
Census
Alonzo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 24,447 people with the first name Alonzo, which placed it at #1,411 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
#1,411
National first-name rank
People counted
24K
24,447 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alonzo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alonzo is Black at 48.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (38.4%) and White (8.7%). 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 Alonzo 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 Alonzo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.1% · 11,751
- Hispanic or Latino38.4% · 9,381
- White8.7% · 2,118
- Two or more races3.1% · 770
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 271
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 156
Gender
Gender distribution for Alonzo
Out of the 45,514 babies given the name Alonzo since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Alonzo as a male name
- Ranked #512 in 2024
- 594 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (651 births)
Alonzo as a female name
- Ranked #9,279 in 1988
- 7 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1955 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alonzo appears almost entirely male. Of the 24,457 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Alonzo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alonzo from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5,250 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alonzo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alonzo 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 Alonzo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alonzos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Alonzo, while Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 875 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alonzo
The name Alonzo originated from the Spanish and Portuguese languages, derived from the ancient Germanic name Alfonso. Alfonso itself is a compound of the Germanic elements "alf" meaning "elf" and "funso" meaning "ready for battle" or "eager for combat."
The name Alonzo gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in the regions of Spain and Portugal where it was widely used among the nobility and ruling classes. It is believed to have been introduced to the Iberian Peninsula by the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe that ruled parts of Spain and Portugal from the 5th to the 8th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alonzo can be found in the 9th century, when it was borne by Alfonso II, a king of Asturias in northern Spain who reigned from 791 to 842. Another notable historical figure with this name was Alfonso X, also known as Alfonso the Wise, who was the King of Castile and León from 1252 to 1284. Alfonso X was a renowned patron of the arts and sciences, and his court was a center of learning and cultural advancement during his reign.
In the 11th century, the name Alonzo spread beyond the Iberian Peninsula and gained popularity in other parts of Europe. One of the most famous bearers of this name was Alonso de Ojeda, a Spanish explorer and navigator who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493. Ojeda later led his own expeditions and played a significant role in the early Spanish exploration and colonization of the Caribbean and South America.
Another notable figure named Alonzo was Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, a Spanish soldier and poet who lived during the 16th century. Ercilla is best known for his epic poem "La Araucana," which chronicles the Spanish conquest of Chile and the resistance of the indigenous Mapuche people.
In the realm of literature, one of the most famous characters named Alonzo is found in John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost." Alonzo is one of the fallen angels who follows Satan in his rebellion against God.
Through the ages, the name Alonzo has maintained its connection to Spanish and Portuguese cultures, although it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in the Americas due to Spanish and Portuguese influences.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Alonzo
People
Alonzo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alonzo 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
Alonzo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alonzo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32,242 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alonzo 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 10,631 US residents.
Is Alonzo a common name?
We classify Alonzo as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 45,514 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alonzo most popular?
The single biggest year for Alonzo was 2022, when 651 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alonzo is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alonzo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 24,447 people with the name Alonzo, or 8.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,411 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 Alonzo 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 Alonzo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alonzo appears almost entirely male. Of the 24,457 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Alonzo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alonzo is Black at 48.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (38.4%) and White (8.7%). 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 Alonzo most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Alonzo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.1% (11,751 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 Alonzo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alonzo a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Alonzo 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 Alonzo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alonzo 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 Alonzo 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 common is the name Alonzo?
See how many people share the name Alonzo on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.