Algernon
Of French derivation, meaning "with a mustache".
Name Census estimates that about 698 living Americans carry the first name Algernon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Algernon today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Algernon births was 1972 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Algernon. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Algernon with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
698
~ 1 in 491,052 Americans
Peak year
1972
29 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2016 SSA rank
#12,275
Tracked since 1886
Census
Algernon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 624 people with the first name Algernon, which placed it at #17,599 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
#17,599
National first-name rank
People counted
624
624 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Algernon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Algernon is Black at 78.8%. The next largest groups are White (12.5%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Algernon 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 Algernon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.8% · 492
- White12.5% · 78
- Two or more races3.0% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 7
Popularity
Algernon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Algernon from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 199 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Algernon 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 Algernon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Algernons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Georgia, Florida, New York recorded the most babies named Algernon, while New York, Florida, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Algernon
The name Algernon has its origins in the ancient French language, tracing back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Germanic elements "ald" meaning "old" and "gar" meaning "spear," thus signifying "with the old spear" or "the ancient warrior."
In its early forms, the name was spelled as Algernon, Algernoun, or Algernoun in Old French. It emerged as a popular name among the Norman aristocracy and was brought to England after the Norman Conquest in 1066.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where an individual named Algernon de Montefort is listed as a landowner in Hampshire, England.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name was particularly prevalent among the noble classes in England and France. Notable figures bearing the name include Algernon Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland (c. 1335-1408), a prominent English military leader during the Hundred Years' War, and Algernon Sidney (1623-1683), an English politician and republican theorist who was executed for his involvement in the Rye House Plot against King Charles II.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained further popularity, with individuals like Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909), an influential English poet and critical figure in the Decadent movement, and Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951), an English novelist and short story writer known for his supernatural fiction.
In the 20th century, the name Algernon was associated with several notable individuals, including Algernon Swinburne (1904-1963), a British diplomat and author, and Algernon Moncrieff (1910-1976), an English actor and television presenter.
It's worth mentioning that while the name Algernon has been historically more prevalent in the English-speaking world, it has also been used in other cultures and languages, though with varying spellings and pronunciations.
People
Algernon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Algernon 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
Algernon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Algernon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 698 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Algernon 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 491,052 US residents.
Is Algernon a common name?
We classify Algernon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 985 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Algernon most popular?
The single biggest year for Algernon was 1972, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Algernon is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Algernon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 624 people with the name Algernon, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,599 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 Algernon 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 Algernon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Algernon leans strongly male. 619 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 7 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Algernon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Algernon is Black at 78.8%. The next largest groups are White (12.5%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Algernon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Algernon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.8% (492 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 Algernon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Algernon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Algernon 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 Algernon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Algernon 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 Algernon 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 Algernon?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.