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Alfread vs Alfred

American parents have registered 245,153 Alfreds since 1880, against 26 Alfreads. Alfred is still ahead, with 293 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Alfread against Alfred, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Alfread Alfred

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Alfred has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1936, when Alfread had 7 and Alfred had 3,270.

Side by side

  Alfread Alfred
Total US births 26245,153
Most in one year 96,291
Babies in 2025 under 5293
Estimated living today 283,000
Median age today 8964
Peak year 19281928
Best rank 2,843rd boys33rd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked840th
First recorded 19281880
Girls / boys 0 / 261,292 / 243,861

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Alfreads alive today are over 89; half the Alfreds are over 64. That is 25 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Alfread and Alfred.