Alvah
Alvah was last recorded in 2024, when 5 babies were given it; 1,880 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 Alvah by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Alvah?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #12,444, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
62 babies in 1916, the peak
Alvah peaked in 1916, when 62 babies were given it (55 boys, #841 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 5 | #12,444 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 7 | #9,803 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 6 | #10,819 | under 0.01 |
| 2015 | 5 | #12,174 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 5 | #6,747 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 5 | #6,345 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 7 | #4,932 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 6 | #5,648 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 6 | #5,496 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 5 | #5,807 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (102)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 7 | #4,605 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 7 | #4,437 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 6 | #4,816 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 7 | #4,202 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,228 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 10 | #3,152 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 9 | #3,285 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 10 | #2,868 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 8 | #3,113 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 5 | #4,056 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 6 | #3,657 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 9 | #2,848 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 9 | #2,903 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,349 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 11 | #2,531 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 16 | #2,025 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 15 | #2,095 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 21 | #1,722 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 19 | #1,790 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 28 | #1,434 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 16 | #1,958 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 16 | #1,939 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 16 | #1,906 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 26 | #1,434 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 19 | #1,704 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 11 | #2,327 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 21 | #1,647 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 22 | #1,510 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 13 | #1,927 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 24 | #1,369 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 21 | #1,529 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 24 | #1,422 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 19 | #1,589 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 17 | #1,682 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,490 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 19 | #1,561 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 13 | #1,994 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 27 | #1,272 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 21 | #1,494 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 28 | #1,266 | 0.03 |
| 1933 | 33 | #1,145 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 41 | #1,036 | 0.04 |
| 1931 | 28 | #1,303 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 36 | #1,173 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 33 | #1,215 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 29 | #1,355 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 42 | #1,098 | 0.04 |
| 1926 | 41 | #1,108 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 44 | #1,041 | 0.04 |
| 1924 | 38 | #1,170 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 41 | #1,115 | 0.04 |
| 1922 | 28 | #1,396 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 28 | #1,413 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 45 | #1,036 | 0.04 |
| 1919 | 33 | #1,231 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 41 | #1,062 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 30 | #1,238 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 55 | #841 | 0.06 |
| 1915 | 45 | #926 | 0.05 |
| 1914 | 44 | #795 | 0.07 |
| 1913 | 31 | #872 | 0.06 |
| 1912 | 25 | #893 | 0.06 |
| 1911 | 16 | #824 | 0.07 |
| 1910 | 6 | #1,428 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,022 | 0.05 |
| 1908 | 5 | #1,376 | 0.03 |
| 1907 | 9 | #930 | 0.06 |
| 1906 | 5 | #1,255 | 0.04 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,004 | 0.05 |
| 1902 | 12 | #652 | 0.10 |
| 1901 | 7 | #860 | 0.07 |
| 1900 | 10 | #837 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 10 | #662 | 0.09 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,125 | 0.04 |
| 1897 | 10 | #683 | 0.09 |
| 1896 | 17 | #501 | 0.14 |
| 1895 | 14 | #557 | 0.12 |
| 1894 | 10 | #671 | 0.09 |
| 1893 | 11 | #618 | 0.10 |
| 1892 | 11 | #641 | 0.09 |
| 1891 | 9 | #641 | 0.09 |
| 1890 | 12 | #567 | 0.11 |
| 1889 | 11 | #583 | 0.10 |
| 1888 | 14 | #528 | 0.12 |
| 1887 | 10 | #586 | 0.10 |
| 1886 | 8 | #699 | 0.07 |
| 1885 | 23 | #364 | 0.21 |
| 1884 | 11 | #571 | 0.10 |
| 1883 | 18 | #412 | 0.17 |
| 1882 | 13 | #514 | 0.11 |
| 1881 | 6 | #784 | 0.06 |
| 1880 | 18 | #404 | 0.16 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Alvah a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,880 Americans recorded as Alvah, 4% are girls and 96% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Alvah: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Alvah, and how old are they?
An estimated 383 Americans named Alvah and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (20% of everyone recorded); the median is 70 years old and half are between 55 and 79. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 568 people named Alvah (51 women and girls, 517 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 482 born in the U.S. The Census count is 18% 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).
How common is the spelling Alvah?
Alvah is a less common spelling of Alva: SSA has recorded 1,880 Alvah and 20,158 Alva since 1880.
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 28,201 babies since 1880, Alvah is the third most given (6.7% of them). In 2025 none of their 50 babies recorded by SSA was a Alvah (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Alvah
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 Alvah and names like it
- Compare Alvah and AlvaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sAlvah peaked in 1916.
- Virginia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Alvah since 1910.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Alvah.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Alvah alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.