Alger
Alger was last recorded in 2008, when 5 babies were given it; 832 Americans have been recorded with it between 1886 and 2008 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alger by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Alger mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Alger is “a male given name from the Germanic languages, variant of Elgar.” Its etymology gives the senses “noble” (*aþal) and “spear” (*gaiʀ).
As an English surname, when pronounced with a soft g, from the Middle English personal name Alger, borrowed from Old French Aug(i)er, of Germanic origin, from *Adalgari, composed of *aþal (“noble”) + *gaiʀ (“spear”). Compare Auger.
When pronounced with a hard g it is a variant of Algar. As a Scottish and English surname, it may be a variant of Algeo.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Alger?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #12,616, in 2008; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
30 babies in 1919, the peak
Alger peaked in 1919, when 30 boys were given it, #1,297 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 5 | #12,616 | 2.5 |
| 1978 | 5 | #5,799 | 3.0 |
| 1977 | 7 | #4,597 | 4.3 |
| 1974 | 9 | #3,562 | 5.7 |
| 1972 | 5 | #5,001 | 3.1 |
| 1971 | 9 | #3,372 | 5.1 |
| 1966 | 5 | #3,955 | 2.8 |
| 1964 | 6 | #3,606 | 3.0 |
| 1963 | 9 | #2,861 | 4.4 |
| 1962 | 6 | #3,646 | 2.9 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 8 | #3,100 | 3.8 |
| 1960 | 6 | #3,670 | 2.8 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,626 | 2.8 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,279 | 3.3 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,825 | 4.2 |
| 1956 | 6 | #3,541 | 2.8 |
| 1955 | 16 | #1,978 | 7.8 |
| 1954 | 9 | #2,747 | 4.4 |
| 1953 | 8 | #2,908 | 4.1 |
| 1952 | 14 | #2,074 | 7.2 |
| 1951 | 10 | #2,497 | 5.3 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,583 | 5.0 |
| 1949 | 10 | #2,455 | 5.6 |
| 1948 | 9 | #2,609 | 5.1 |
| 1947 | 11 | #2,357 | 6.0 |
| 1946 | 12 | #2,145 | 7.4 |
| 1945 | 14 | #1,852 | 10.4 |
| 1944 | 7 | #2,865 | 5.1 |
| 1943 | 9 | #2,563 | 6.3 |
| 1942 | 12 | #2,144 | 8.7 |
| 1941 | 14 | #1,905 | 11.4 |
| 1940 | 8 | #2,671 | 6.9 |
| 1939 | 14 | #1,879 | 12.6 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,328 | 9.0 |
| 1937 | 11 | #2,200 | 10.3 |
| 1936 | 11 | #2,189 | 10.6 |
| 1935 | 19 | #1,585 | 18.2 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,395 | 9.7 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,094 | 12.1 |
| 1932 | 20 | #1,586 | 19.2 |
| 1931 | 12 | #2,209 | 11.5 |
| 1930 | 16 | #1,890 | 14.6 |
| 1929 | 11 | #2,454 | 10.2 |
| 1928 | 19 | #1,762 | 17.2 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,519 | 22.2 |
| 1926 | 29 | #1,353 | 26.1 |
| 1925 | 19 | #1,807 | 17.0 |
| 1924 | 23 | #1,628 | 20.3 |
| 1923 | 20 | #1,753 | 18.2 |
| 1922 | 22 | #1,647 | 20.2 |
| 1921 | 29 | #1,390 | 26.3 |
| 1920 | 18 | #1,887 | 16.9 |
| 1919 | 30 | #1,297 | 30.6 |
| 1918 | 21 | #1,648 | 20.7 |
| 1917 | 16 | #1,900 | 17.3 |
| 1916 | 29 | #1,241 | 32.6 |
| 1915 | 16 | #1,783 | 18.9 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,546 | 24.4 |
| 1913 | 17 | #1,256 | 33.2 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,274 | 14.0 |
| 1910 | 6 | #1,425 | 30.9 |
| 1906 | 5 | #1,253 | 37.6 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,061 | 47.0 |
| 1898 | 11 | #663 | 89.7 |
| 1891 | 6 | #842 | 59.3 |
| 1889 | 6 | #879 | 54.3 |
| 1888 | 7 | #816 | 57.9 |
| 1886 | 5 | #964 | 45.1 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Alger a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alger has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 68 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Alger: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alger, and how old are they?
An estimated 191 Americans named Alger and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (23% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 63 and 79. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 371 people named Alger (12 women and girls, 359 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 249 born in the U.S. The Census count is 49% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Where are babies named Alger born?
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 134 | not ranked | 4.2× |
Where Alger is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Alger is most over-represented in Michigan: since 1910 it was given 4.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Alger with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Alger
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 Alger and names like it
- Compare Alger and IrvenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sAlger peaked in 1919.
- Michigan’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alger since 1910.
- The top names of 1919The year the most babies were named Alger.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Alger alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.