Alphonse
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "ready for battle".
Name Census estimates that about 3,259 living Americans carry the first name Alphonse. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Alphonse today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alphonse births was 1918 (357 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alphonse. 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 Alphonse with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.3K
~ 1 in 105,172 Americans
Peak year
1918
357 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,437
Tracked since 1880
Census
Alphonse in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,391 people with the first name Alphonse, which placed it at #5,152 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
#5,152
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,391 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alphonse
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alphonse is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.4%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Alphonse 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 Alphonse at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.9% · 1,931
- Black or African American30.4% · 1,032
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 208
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 111
- Two or more races2.6% · 89
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 20
Popularity
Alphonse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alphonse from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,529 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
Alphonse 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 Alphonse during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alphonses live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Alphonse, while Vermont, Iowa, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 272 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alphonse
The name Alphonse has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the elements "alf" meaning "elf" and "funz" meaning "ready for combat". It was originally a compound name formed by combining these two words, representing the qualities of being supernaturally gifted and battle-ready.
In the 8th century, the name appeared in various forms across Europe, including Alphunz, Alfuns, and Alfonsus. It gained prominence during the reign of the Visigothic King Alfonso I of Asturias in the 8th century, who is credited with initiating the Reconquista against the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula.
As the name spread across Europe, it was influenced by the Latin form "Alphonsus" and the French form "Alphonse". It appeared in ancient texts and chronicles documenting the exploits of various rulers and noble families, particularly in Spain, France, and Italy.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Alphonse is Alfonso VII of León and Castile (1105-1157), who was also known as the Emperor of All the Spains. Another notable figure was Alfonso X of Castile (1221-1284), also known as Alfonso the Wise or the Learned, who was a prolific patron of literature, science, and the arts.
In France, Alphonse de Poitiers (1220-1271) was a prominent nobleman and crusader who played a significant role in the Seventh Crusade. Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869) was a renowned French writer, poet, and statesman during the Romantic era.
In Italy, Alphonso I d'Este (1476-1534) was the Duke of Ferrara, known for his patronage of the arts and his support of the Renaissance humanists. Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (1790-1869) was a French writer, poet, and statesman who played a significant role during the French Revolution of 1848.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Alphonse, reflecting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Alphonse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alphonse 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
Alphonse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alphonse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,259 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alphonse 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 105,172 US residents.
Is Alphonse a common name?
We classify Alphonse as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,536 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alphonse most popular?
The single biggest year for Alphonse was 1918, when 357 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alphonse is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alphonse in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,391 people with the name Alphonse, or 1.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,152 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 Alphonse 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 Alphonse?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alphonse appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,391 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Alphonse?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alphonse is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.4%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Alphonse most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alphonse in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.9% (1,931 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 Alphonse in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alphonse a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alphonse 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 Alphonse still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alphonse 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 Alphonse 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 called Alphonse?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.