Alfreda
A feminine name of Old German origin meaning "elf counselor".
Name Census estimates that about 5,082 living Americans carry the first name Alfreda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alfreda today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alfreda births was 1958 (363 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alfreda. 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 Alfreda is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Alfredas were born before 1971.
People living today
5.1K
~ 1 in 67,445 Americans
Peak year
1958
363 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1978 SSA rank
#5,801
Tracked since 1881
Census
Alfreda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,914 people with the first name Alfreda, which placed it at #3,502 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
#3,502
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,914 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alfreda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alfreda is Black at 68.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.5%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Alfreda 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 Alfreda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.3% · 4,039
- White21.5% · 1,269
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 265
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 142
- Two or more races1.8% · 108
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 91
Gender
Gender distribution for Alfreda
Out of the 11,418 babies given the name Alfreda since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Alfreda as a male name
- Ranked #5,801 in 1978
- 5 male births in 1978
- Peak: 1954 (7 births)
Alfreda as a female name
- Ranked #15,797 in 2018
- 5 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1958 (363 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alfreda appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,916 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Alfreda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alfreda from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 2,507 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alfreda 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 Alfreda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alfredas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the most babies named Alfreda, while Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 240 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alfreda
The name Alfreda has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the Germanic elements "alf" meaning "elf" and "rad" meaning "counsel" or "advice". It was a popular name during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, particularly between the 7th and 11th centuries.
Alfreda was a name borne by several notable historical figures. One of the earliest recorded examples was Alfreda of Mercia, the daughter of King Offa of Mercia, who lived in the late 8th century. Another early bearer of the name was Alfreda of Northumbria, a princess who lived in the 9th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Alfreda was found among various noble families across Europe. One notable example was Alfreda of Salerno, a Duchess of Apulia who lived in the 11th century and played a significant role in the Lombard resistance against the Normans.
In the 12th century, Alfreda of Normandy, the daughter of King Henry I of England, was a prominent figure. She was betrothed to the Holy Roman Emperor but ultimately did not marry him.
The name Alfreda also has connections to religious figures. Saint Alfreda, a 9th-century Benedictine abbess from England, is venerated in the Catholic Church. Her feast day is celebrated on October 16th.
Other notable bearers of the name Alfreda include Alfreda Glynn, an English actress born in 1888 who appeared in several silent films and stage productions, and Alfreda Mossman, an Australian painter and artist born in 1901 who was known for her landscape and still life works.
While the name Alfreda was popular in earlier centuries, it has become less common in modern times. However, its rich historical significance and connection to notable figures throughout history have ensured its enduring place in the annals of given names.
People
Alfreda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alfreda 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
Alfreda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alfreda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,082 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alfreda 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 67,445 US residents.
Is Alfreda a common name?
We classify Alfreda as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,418 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alfreda most popular?
The single biggest year for Alfreda was 1958, when 363 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alfreda is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alfreda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,914 people with the name Alfreda, or 1.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,502 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 Alfreda 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 Alfreda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alfreda appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,916 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Alfreda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alfreda is Black at 68.3%. The next largest groups are White (21.5%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Alfreda most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Alfreda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.3% (4,039 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 Alfreda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alfreda a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Alfreda in the SSA data are female. 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 Alfreda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alfreda 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 Alfreda 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 share the name Alfreda?
You can see how many Americans are named Alfreda on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.