Alpha vs Alphonzo
American parents have registered 10,045 Alphas since 1880, against 2,030 Alphonzos. Alpha is still ahead, with 77 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Alpha Alphonzo
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
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Alpha for 122 years and Alphonzo for 24 years. The lead changed hands 22 times.
- 1880–1959 Alpha ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1962–1972 Alphonzo ahead
- 1980–1983 Alpha ahead
- 1990–1992 Alphonzo ahead
- 1995–2025 Alpha ahead
17 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Alpha | Alphonzo | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 10,045 | 2,030 |
| Most in one year | 230 | 43 |
| Babies in 2025 | 77 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 3,200 | 1,300 |
| Median age today | 30 | 53 |
| Peak year | 1916 | 1963 |
| Best rank | 451st girls | 1,175th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 13,208th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1895 |
| Girls / boys | 7,188 / 2,857 | 0 / 2,030 |
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 Alphonzos alive today are over 53; half the Alphas are over 30. That is 23 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Alpha Kentucky (8.7×), Oklahoma (6.6×), Arkansas (5.1×)
- Alphonzo North Carolina (17.0×), South Carolina (14.7×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Alpha and Alphonzo.