Alvern
An Old English name derived from Ælf meaning "elf" and ær meaning "messenger".
Name Census estimates that about 8 living Americans carry the first name Alvern. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Alvern today is around 87 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alvern births was 1934 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alvern. 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 Alvern is about 87 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Alverns were born before 1949.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Alvern. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
8
~ 1 in 42,844,292 Americans
Peak year
1934
8 babies that year
Average age
87
years old
1935 SSA rank
#3,267
Tracked since 1913
Census
Alvern in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 110 people with the first name Alvern, which placed it at #51,979 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
#51,979
National first-name rank
People counted
110
110 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alvern
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alvern is White at 54.5%. The next largest groups are Black (40.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.6%). 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 Alvern 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 Alvern at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.5% · 60
- Black or African American40.0% · 44
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Alvern
Alvern is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 76 total registrations, 55 (72.4%) were male and 21 (27.6%) were female.
Alvern as a male name
- Ranked #3,267 in 1935
- 6 male births in 1935
- Peak: 1934 (8 births)
Alvern as a female name
- Ranked #4,711 in 1943
- 5 female births in 1943
- Peak: 1931 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Alvern on both sides of the split. Of the 111 people counted with this name, 84 were male (75.7%) and 27 were female (24.3%).
Popularity
Alvern: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alvern from the 1910s through to the 1940s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 33 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alvern 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 Alvern 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 Alvern
The name Alvern has its origins in the Old English language, stemming from the combination of two words: "ælf" meaning "elf" and "fearn" meaning "fern." This suggests that the name may have been initially used to describe someone who lived near or was associated with ferns or elves in some way.
While the exact origins of the name are somewhat obscure, it is believed to have emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th century AD. The name was primarily used in certain regions of England, particularly in the areas where Old English was spoken and preserved.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Alvern can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land and property in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This suggests that the name was already in use during the late 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Alvern. One of the earliest recorded figures was Alvern of Malmesbury, a Benedictine monk and scholar who lived in the late 11th and early 12th centuries (c. 1040-1122). He is known for his contributions to the field of astronomy and for his writings on various subjects.
Another notable Alvern was Alvern of Salisbury, a 13th-century English clergyman and philosopher (c. 1180-1249). He was a celebrated scholar of his time and wrote extensively on logic, metaphysics, and theology.
In the 15th century, Alvern of York (c. 1420-1492) was a prominent English architect and stonemason. He is credited with the design and construction of several notable buildings, including parts of York Minster and other churches in the region.
Moving forward in time, Alvern Woodward (1854-1932) was an American educator and author from Massachusetts. He published several works on education and teaching methods, and his contributions helped shape the field of pedagogy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Finally, Alvern Ballard (1905-1988) was a Canadian artist and painter known for his landscape paintings depicting the natural beauty of British Columbia. His works are widely recognized and can be found in various art collections and galleries across Canada.
While the name Alvern may not be as common today as it once was, its rich history and diverse association with notable figures across various fields serve as a testament to its enduring legacy and significance throughout the centuries.
People
Alvern + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alvern 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
Alvern: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alvern?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alvern 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 42,844,292 US residents.
Is Alvern a common name?
We classify Alvern as "Very Rare". It ranks above 24.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 76 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alvern most popular?
The single biggest year for Alvern was 1934, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alvern is about 87 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alvern in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 110 people with the name Alvern, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,979 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 Alvern 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 Alvern?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Alvern on both sides of the split. Of the 111 people counted with this name, 84 were male (75.7%) and 27 were female (24.3%). 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 Alvern?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alvern is White at 54.5%. The next largest groups are Black (40.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.6%). 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 Alvern most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alvern in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.5% (60 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 Alvern in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alvern a male name?
Yes, 72.4% of people registered as Alvern 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 Alvern still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alvern 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 Alvern 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 Alvern?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.