Alpheus
Alpheus was last recorded in 2024, when 7 babies were given it; 770 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Alpheus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Alpheus mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Alpheus is “a male given name of historical usage.” Its etymology gives the sense “whitish” (literally).
From Ancient Greek Ἀλφειός (Alpheiós, literally “whitish”).
/ælˈfiːəs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Alpheus?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #9,946, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
29 babies in 1917, the peak
Alpheus peaked in 1917, when 29 boys were given it, #1,265 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 7 | #9,946 | 4.1 |
| 2023 | 7 | #9,802 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 6 | #10,928 | 3.4 |
| 1993 | 5 | #8,731 | 2.5 |
| 1983 | 5 | #6,266 | 2.8 |
| 1980 | 6 | #5,545 | 3.4 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,080 | 3.7 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,244 | 3.2 |
| 1970 | 7 | #3,848 | 3.8 |
| 1969 | 6 | #3,949 | 3.4 |
Every recorded year (76)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | 7 | #3,236 | 4.0 |
| 1963 | 6 | #3,655 | 3.0 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,054 | 2.4 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,348 | 3.3 |
| 1959 | 5 | #4,004 | 2.3 |
| 1958 | 6 | #3,564 | 2.8 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,559 | 2.8 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,563 | 4.9 |
| 1954 | 5 | #3,838 | 2.5 |
| 1953 | 10 | #2,535 | 5.1 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,380 | 3.1 |
| 1951 | 8 | #2,848 | 4.2 |
| 1950 | 14 | #2,022 | 7.8 |
| 1949 | 6 | #3,307 | 3.4 |
| 1948 | 8 | #2,790 | 4.6 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,672 | 4.9 |
| 1946 | 8 | #2,695 | 4.9 |
| 1945 | 10 | #2,244 | 7.4 |
| 1944 | 5 | #3,441 | 3.7 |
| 1943 | 8 | #2,741 | 5.6 |
| 1942 | 12 | #2,145 | 8.7 |
| 1941 | 8 | #2,660 | 6.5 |
| 1940 | 7 | #2,880 | 6.0 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,053 | 10.8 |
| 1938 | 8 | #2,655 | 7.2 |
| 1936 | 7 | #2,859 | 6.7 |
| 1935 | 15 | #1,839 | 14.4 |
| 1933 | 16 | #1,771 | 16.1 |
| 1932 | 18 | #1,716 | 17.2 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,472 | 9.6 |
| 1930 | 8 | #3,031 | 7.3 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,201 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 21 | #1,650 | 19.0 |
| 1927 | 17 | #1,960 | 15.1 |
| 1926 | 16 | #1,984 | 14.4 |
| 1925 | 14 | #2,193 | 12.5 |
| 1924 | 16 | #2,044 | 14.1 |
| 1923 | 23 | #1,592 | 21.0 |
| 1922 | 24 | #1,546 | 22.1 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,705 | 19.1 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,134 | 14.1 |
| 1919 | 21 | #1,624 | 21.4 |
| 1918 | 21 | #1,650 | 20.7 |
| 1917 | 29 | #1,265 | 31.3 |
| 1916 | 24 | #1,416 | 27.0 |
| 1915 | 21 | #1,504 | 24.7 |
| 1914 | 20 | #1,343 | 30.5 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,094 | 15.6 |
| 1912 | 13 | #1,354 | 30.2 |
| 1911 | 5 | #1,745 | 22.1 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,281 | 36.6 |
| 1907 | 5 | #1,350 | 34.1 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,008 | 52.6 |
| 1904 | 7 | #968 | 54.6 |
| 1895 | 8 | #797 | 68.1 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,081 | 43.2 |
| 1893 | 6 | #910 | 53.4 |
| 1890 | 6 | #886 | 54.0 |
| 1888 | 6 | #921 | 49.6 |
| 1887 | 5 | #932 | 49.3 |
| 1886 | 5 | #968 | 45.1 |
| 1885 | 6 | #839 | 55.7 |
| 1884 | 5 | #977 | 43.7 |
| 1883 | 7 | #722 | 66.9 |
| 1882 | 8 | #695 | 70.4 |
| 1880 | 6 | #814 | 54.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Alpheus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Alpheus has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 76 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Alpheus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alpheus, and how old are they?
An estimated 167 Americans named Alpheus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (22% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 52 and 78. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 298 people named Alpheus (0 women and girls, 298 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 190 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 times 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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 904 babies since 1880, Alpheus is the most given (85% 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 Alpheus
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 Alpheus and names like it
- Compare Alpheus and AlphusBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sAlpheus peaked in 1917.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alpheus since 1910.
- The top names of 1917The year the most babies were named Alpheus.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Alpheus alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.