Walfre
A masculine name of Old German origin meaning "power of speech".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Walfre. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Walfre today is around 6 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Walfre births was 2020 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Walfre. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Walfre. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2020
5 babies that year
Average age
6
years old
2020 SSA rank
#13,933
Tracked since 2020
Census
Walfre in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 198 people with the first name Walfre, which placed it at #38,638 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
#38,638
National first-name rank
People counted
198
198 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
99.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Walfre
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Walfre is Hispanic at 99.0%. The next largest groups are White (0.5%) and Black (0.5%). 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 Walfre 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 Walfre at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino99.0% · 196
- White0.5% · 1
- Black or African American0.5% · 1
Popularity
Walfre: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Walfre 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 Walfre during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Walfre
The name Walfre has its origins in Old English, derived from the Germanic roots "wald" meaning "rule" and "fri" meaning "peace" or "free." It is believed to have emerged during the early medieval period, around the 5th to 7th centuries CE, in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of what is now England.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Walfre of Mercia, a nobleman who lived in the 7th century and was reportedly a counselor to King Penda of Mercia. The name is also mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an important historical record compiled in the late 9th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Walfre appeared in various religious texts and chronicles across Europe. It is found in the Benedictine records of the 10th century, where a monk named Walfre is mentioned as a scribe and illuminator of manuscripts.
In the 12th century, a French nobleman named Walfre de Vere is recorded as a participant in the Second Crusade, accompanying King Louis VII of France to the Holy Land. This indicates that the name had spread to parts of continental Europe by that time.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Walfre was Walfre de Boldon, an English nobleman and landowner who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. He is known for the Boldon Book, a survey of his estates and tenants that provides valuable insights into medieval life.
In the 14th century, Walfre de Lisle was a prominent English knight who served under King Edward III and participated in the Hundred Years' War against France. He is recorded as having fought in the Battle of Crécy in 1346 and the siege of Calais in 1347.
Another notable individual was Walfre de Huntyngfeld, an English clergyman who lived in the 15th century. He served as the Bishop of Rochester from 1459 to 1480 and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses, supporting the House of York.
While the name Walfre has fallen out of common use in modern times, it has left a historical legacy spanning several centuries and various parts of Europe, particularly in England and France.
People
Walfre + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Walfre as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Walfre: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Walfre?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Walfre 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Walfre a common name?
We classify Walfre as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Walfre most popular?
The single biggest year for Walfre was 2020, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Walfre is about 6 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Walfre in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 198 people with the name Walfre, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,638 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 Walfre 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 Walfre?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Walfre appears almost entirely male. Of the 202 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Walfre?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Walfre is Hispanic at 99.0%. The next largest groups are White (0.5%) and Black (0.5%). 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 Walfre most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Walfre in the 2020 Census, accounting for 99.0% (196 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 Walfre in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Walfre a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Walfre 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 Walfre still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Walfre 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 Walfre 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 Americans are named Walfre?
See how many Americans are named Walfre on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.