Alf
Alf was last recorded in 1979, when 5 babies were given it; 1,130 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1979 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alf by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Alf mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Alf is “a diminutive of the male given names Alfred and Alfonso, from the Germanic languages.”
/ælf/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Alf?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #6,079, in 1979; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
38 babies in 1916, the peak
Alf peaked in 1916, when 38 boys were given it, #1,044 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 5 | #6,079 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 8 | #3,953 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 8 | #3,842 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 6 | #4,453 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 5 | #4,926 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 5 | #4,418 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 5 | #4,148 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #3,980 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 9 | #2,857 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,050 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (88)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 5 | #4,073 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,081 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 9 | #2,824 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 5 | #3,999 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #2,973 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 11 | #2,452 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 7 | #3,146 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 10 | #2,518 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 6 | #3,369 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,582 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 17 | #1,820 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,323 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 13 | #2,169 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 9 | #2,535 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 6 | #2,998 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 9 | #2,469 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 7 | #2,964 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 14 | #1,947 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 7 | #2,877 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,052 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 13 | #1,980 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 14 | #1,913 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 18 | #1,587 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 12 | #2,128 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 16 | #1,784 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 18 | #1,645 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 17 | #1,780 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 18 | #1,694 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 19 | #1,693 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 21 | #1,611 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 18 | #1,823 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,518 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 17 | #1,912 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 18 | #1,873 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 34 | #1,246 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 27 | #1,421 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 18 | #1,885 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 27 | #1,450 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 26 | #1,457 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 36 | #1,159 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 32 | #1,231 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 36 | #1,113 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 38 | #1,044 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 34 | #1,100 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 27 | #1,101 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 20 | #1,146 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 22 | #970 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 19 | #732 | 0.08 |
| 1910 | 6 | #1,423 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,280 | 0.04 |
| 1908 | 9 | #946 | 0.06 |
| 1907 | 11 | #817 | 0.07 |
| 1906 | 9 | #853 | 0.07 |
| 1905 | 8 | #919 | 0.06 |
| 1904 | 10 | #761 | 0.08 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,132 | 0.04 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,141 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 12 | #596 | 0.11 |
| 1900 | 8 | #970 | 0.05 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,123 | 0.04 |
| 1897 | 10 | #682 | 0.09 |
| 1896 | 9 | #778 | 0.08 |
| 1895 | 6 | #978 | 0.05 |
| 1894 | 6 | #956 | 0.05 |
| 1893 | 11 | #616 | 0.10 |
| 1892 | 10 | #687 | 0.08 |
| 1891 | 11 | #564 | 0.11 |
| 1890 | 10 | #630 | 0.09 |
| 1889 | 12 | #549 | 0.11 |
| 1888 | 10 | #649 | 0.08 |
| 1887 | 8 | #682 | 0.08 |
| 1886 | 9 | #647 | 0.08 |
| 1885 | 5 | #940 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 7 | #768 | 0.06 |
| 1883 | 15 | #460 | 0.14 |
| 1882 | 6 | #840 | 0.05 |
| 1881 | 5 | #867 | 0.05 |
| 1880 | 7 | #747 | 0.06 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Alf a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alf has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 88 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Alf: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alf, and how old are they?
An estimated 164 Americans named Alf and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (15% of everyone recorded); the median is 72 years old and half are between 59 and 79. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 423 people named Alf (15 women and girls, 408 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 220 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.9 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Alf rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,311 babies since 1880, Alf is the most given (86% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Alf
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Alf and names like it
- Compare Alf and AlifBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sAlf peaked in 1916.
- Minnesota’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alf since 1910.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Alf.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Alf alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.