Alpheus
Masculine name of Greek origin meaning "changing" or "to make an exchange".
Name Census estimates that about 200 living Americans carry the first name Alpheus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Alpheus today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alpheus births was 1917 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alpheus. 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 Alpheus is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Alpheus' were born before 1970.
People living today
200
~ 1 in 1,713,772 Americans
Peak year
1917
29 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,916
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Alpheus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alpheus from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 180 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
Alpheus 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 Alpheus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alpheus' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Alpheus
The name Alpheus has its origins in ancient Greek, derived from the word "alphos" which means "dull" or "pale". It is believed to have first appeared in the 8th century BC and was initially used to refer to the Alpheus River in the western Peloponnese region of Greece.
In Greek mythology, Alpheus was a river god who fell in love with the nymph Arethusa. Their tragic love story is recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses, where Alpheus pursues Arethusa across the Mediterranean until she is transformed into a spring on the island of Ortygia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alpheus is found in the New Testament of the Bible, where it is mentioned as the name of a Jewish man who was a member of the church council in Jerusalem around 60 AD.
Throughout history, the name Alpheus has been borne by several notable individuals. One such figure was Alpheus of Mytilene, a Greek grammarian and scholar who lived in the 2nd century AD and wrote commentaries on the works of Euripides.
In the 4th century AD, there was Alpheus of Adrianopolis, a Christian martyr who was executed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian for refusing to renounce his faith.
Another significant figure was Alpheus Hyatt, an American naturalist and paleontologist who lived from 1838 to 1902. He was a prominent figure in the field of evolutionary biology and made significant contributions to the study of fossil cephalopods.
In the literary world, Alpheus Felch was an American poet and author who lived from 1804 to 1896. He published several works of poetry and prose, including "The Literati of New England" and "The Poetical Works of Alpheus Felch".
Lastly, Alpheus W. Wilson was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Missouri from 1925 to 1927. He was born in 1864 and was also a successful lawyer and businessman.
People
Alpheus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alpheus 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
Alpheus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alpheus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 200 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alpheus 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 1,713,772 US residents.
Is Alpheus a common name?
We classify Alpheus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 770 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alpheus most popular?
The single biggest year for Alpheus was 1917, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alpheus is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Alpheus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alpheus 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.
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.