Walfred
Powerful leader; from Germanic elements meaning "ruler" and "elf counsel".
Name Census estimates that about 12 living Americans carry the first name Walfred. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Walfred today is around 96 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Walfred births was 1920 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Walfred. 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 Walfred is about 96 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Walfreds were born before 1940.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Walfred. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
12
~ 1 in 28,562,862 Americans
Peak year
1920
19 babies that year
Average age
96
years old
1945 SSA rank
#3,763
Tracked since 1912
Census
Walfred in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 244 people with the first name Walfred, which placed it at #33,765 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
#33,765
National first-name rank
People counted
244
244 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
71.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Walfred
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Walfred is Hispanic at 71.3%. The next largest groups are White (23.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.5%). 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 Walfred 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 Walfred at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino71.3% · 174
- White23.4% · 57
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 6
- Black or African American2.0% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
- Two or more races0.4% · 1
Popularity
Walfred: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Walfred from the 1910s through to the 1940s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 99 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
Walfred 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 Walfred during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Walfreds live
Origin
Meaning and history of Walfred
The given name Walfred is of Germanic origin, stemming from the Old High German elements "wald" meaning "power" or "rule" and "frid" meaning "peace". It is believed to have emerged in the early medieval period, around the 5th to 8th centuries, when Germanic languages were prevalent across central and western Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Walfred can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Fuldensis, a collection of medieval charters from the Fulda Abbey in modern-day Germany. In this text, dated to the 8th century, a nobleman named Walfred is mentioned as a witness to a land transaction.
During the Middle Ages, the name Walfred gained popularity among the nobility and ruling classes in various Germanic regions. It was particularly common in the Frankish kingdoms and later in the Holy Roman Empire. Notable individuals with this name from this period include Walfred, Count of Velay (died around 923), a powerful nobleman in the Kingdom of Arles.
In the 11th century, Walfred, Archbishop of Milan (died 1036), was a prominent figure in the ecclesiastical and political affairs of northern Italy. His name appears in several historical chronicles and documents from that era.
Moving into the late medieval period, Walfred of Aldingham (fl. 1240–1260) was an English clergyman and writer who authored a work on canon law.
During the Renaissance, Walfred Stromer (1445–1531), a German merchant and banker, was a prominent figure in the economic and cultural life of Nuremberg.
As the name spread across Europe, variations in spelling and pronunciation emerged, such as Walfrid, Walfried, and Wolfrid. However, the core elements of the name, reflecting power and peace, remained consistent throughout its long history.
People
Walfred + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Walfred 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
Walfred: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Walfred?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Walfred 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 28,562,862 US residents.
Is Walfred a common name?
We classify Walfred as "Very Rare". It ranks above 32.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 227 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Walfred most popular?
The single biggest year for Walfred was 1920, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Walfred is about 96 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Walfred in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 244 people with the name Walfred, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,765 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 Walfred 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 Walfred?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Walfred appears almost entirely male. Of the 238 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 Walfred?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Walfred is Hispanic at 71.3%. The next largest groups are White (23.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.5%). 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 Walfred most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Walfred in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.3% (174 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 Walfred in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Walfred a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Walfred 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 Walfred still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Walfred 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 Walfred 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 are named Walfred?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Walfred at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.