Alfred (name)

	Statue in Wantage, England, of Alfred the Great, king of England from 871 to 899.
Gender	Masculine
Name day	January 3 (Sweden, Norway)
Origin
Language(s)	English
Word/name	Germanic
Meaning	From the Anglo-Saxon name Ælfræd, formed from the Germanic words ælf, meaning "elf", and ræd, meaning "counsel"
Other names
Nickname(s)	Al, Alf, Alfy, Alfie, Fred, Freddy
Cognate(s)	Ælfræd (Anglo-Saxon); Alfreð (Icelandic); Alfréd (Hungarian, Slovakian); Alfred (Catalan); Alfredo (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish); Alfrēds (Latvian); Alfredas (Lithuanian); Alfredi (Albanian); Fredo (diminutive of Alfredo)

Alfred is a masculine given name of English origin, a modern descendant of the Anglo-Saxon name Ælfræd (Old English pronunciation: [ˈæɫvræːd]), formed from the Germanic words ælf, meaning "elf", and ræd, meaning "counsel".^[1]^[2] Its feminine form originating from Romance languages is Alfreda, and diminutives of Alfred include Al, Alf, Alfy, Alfie, Fred, and Freddy. After the 11th-century Norman Conquest, many variants of the name emerged, most of which were not carried to the modern day.^[1] Today, Alfred is still in regular usage in a number of different regions, especially Great Britain, Africa, Scandinavia, and North America. It is one of the few Old English names that came into common use in Europe.^[1] Its name day is the 3rd of January both in Norway and Sweden.^[3]

Given name[edit]

Royalty and politicians[edit]

Alfred the Great (848/849–899), 9th-century king of Wessex
Alfred Aetheling (c. 1012–1036), son of King Ethelred II of England
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1844–1900), second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1874–1899), grandson of Queen Victoria and son of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Alfred A. Lama (1899–1984), Italian-American architect and politician
Alfred Bansard des Bois (1848–1920), French politician
Alfred Winsor Brown (1885–1938), governor of Guam
Alfred Burvill, Australian politician
Alfred Deakin (1856–1919), 2nd prime minister of Australia
Alfred Joseph Richard de Soysa (1869–1939), Sri Lankan Sinhala landowner and member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon
Alfred Dregger (1920–2002), German politician
Alfred Gusenbauer (born 1960), Austrian politician
Alfred Käärmann (1922–2010), Estonian freedom fighter
Alfred John King (1859–1920), British politician
Alfred Josoa (born 1943), Malagasy politician
Alfred Kollie (1951–2020), Liberian politician
Alf Landon (1887–1987), American politician
Alfred Lecerf (1948–2019), Belgian politician
Alfred Mtsi (1950/1951–2020), South African politician
Alfred Mpontshane (born 1952), South African politician
Al Smith (1873–1944), American statesman
Alfred Solstad (1884–1973), American farmer and politician
Alfred Graf von Schlieffen (1833–1913), German field marshal and strategist
Alfred Thambiayah (1903–unknown), Sri Lankan Tamil businessman and member of parliament

Writers and philosophers[edit]

Alfred Bester (1913–1987), American science fiction author
Alfred de Musset (1810–1857), French romantic poet and playwright
Alfred de Vigny (1797–1863), French romantic poet
Alfred Jarry (1873–1907), French writer and founder of 'pataphysics
Alfred Daniel Williams King (1930–1969), American minister and civil rights activist
Alfred Richard Orage (1873–1934), British teacher, writer, editor, publisher
Alfred Rosenberg (1893–1946), German Nazi theorist
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), British poet
Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), English analytic philosopher and mathematician, co-author of Principia Mathematica

Athletes[edit]

Alfred Aboya (born 1985), Cameroonian basketball player
Alfred Bloch (1877–?), French Olympic footballer
Alfred Butch Lee (born 1956), retired Puerto Rican basketball player
Alfred Eissler (1896–1954), American football player
Alfred Albert Joe de Re la Gardiur (1881–1941), Luxembourgish-American wrestler
Alfred Guth (1908–1996), Austrian-born American water polo player, swimmer, and Olympic modern pentathlete
Alf King (born 1941), Australian former footballer
Alfred Kipketer (born 1996), Kenyan middle-distance runner and 2013 world youth champion
Alfred Kivisaar (1953–2021), Estonian badminton player
Alfred König (1913–1987), Austrian-Turkish Olympic sprinter
Alfred Kuchevsky (1931–2000), Soviet professional ice hockey player
Alfred McCullough (born 1989), American football player
Alfred Morris (born 1988), American football player
Alfred Neuland (1895–1966), Estonian weightlifter
Alfred Puusaag (1897–1951), Estonian weightlifter
Alf Ramsey (1920–1999), English football manager
Alfred Schmidt (1898–1972), Estonian weightlifter
Alfred Skrobisch (1913–1991), American fencer
Alfred Stöhrmann (1882–1914), German football player
Alfred Tetteh (born 1975), Ghanaian boxer

Businessmen[edit]

Alfred O. Deshong (1837–1913), American businessman, philanthropist and art collector
Alfred Fielding, inventor of Bubble Wrap
Alfred Ford (born 1950), heir to the Ford family fortune
Alfred S. Hart (1904–1979), American businessman and banker
Alfred Hurst (1846–1912), English-born American politician and businessman
Alfred Herrhausen (1930–1989), German banker
Alfred Lindon (c. 1868–1948), businessman and art collector
Alfred Lion (1908–1987), American record executive
Alfred Pisani (born 1939), Maltese businessman and hotelier
Alfred Douglas Price (1860–1921), African American businessperson and community leader
Alfred Sung (born 1948), Canadian fashion designer and businessman

Artists and entertainers[edit]

Alfred Biolek (1934–2021), German entertainer and television producer
Alfred Buckham (1879–1956), British photographer
Alfred Gerald Caplin (1909–1979), American cartoonist and humorist better known as "Al Capp"
Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898–1995), German-born American photographer and photojournalist
Alfred Edirimanne (1929–2000), Sri Lankan Sinhala cinema actor and politician
Alfred Enoch (born 1988), British actor
Alfred Hill, English comedian better known as "Benny Hill"
Alfred Hirv (1880–1918), Estonian painter
Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), English film director
Alfred Koerppen (1926–2022), German organist, composer, and teacher
Alfred Leslie (1927–2023), American artist and filmmaker
Alfred Lipka (1931–2010), German violist
Alfred Molina (born 1953), British actor
Alfred Momotenko Levitsky (born 1970), Russian-Dutch composer
Alfred Rasser (1907–1977), Swiss comedian, radio personality, and actor
Alfred Ryder (1916–1995), American film, radio, and television actor
Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998), German-Soviet composer
Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946), American photographer and modern art promoter
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (born 1959), American parody–comedy musician

Military people[edit]

Alfred Dreyfus (1859–1935), French Jewish artillery officer wrongly accused of treason
Alfred Jodl (1890–1946), German Wehrmacht general who was executed at the Nuremberg trials
Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914), American naval strategist and historian
Alfred C. Markley (1843–1926), American brigadier general
Alfred K. Newman (1924–2019), United States Marine and Navajo code talker
Alfred Saalwächter (1883–1945), German naval officer executed for war crimes
Alfred Trzebinski (1902–1946), German SS physician at several Nazi concentration camps executed for war crimes
Alfred Zeidler (born 1902, date of death unknown), German SS concentration camp commandant

Scientists[edit]

Alfred L. Elwyn (1804–1884), American physician and pioneer in the training and care of mentally disabled people
Alfred Douglas Hardy (1870–1958), Australian botanist
Alfred Erich Hoche (1865–1943), German psychiatrist, eugenicist, used pseudonym Alred Erich for poetry publication
Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956), American entomologist, zoologist, and human sexuality researcher
Alfred Marshall (1842–1924), English economist
Alfred Newton (1829–1907), English zoologist and ornithologist
Alfred Nobel (1833–1896), Swedish chemist and engineer
Alfred Ploetz (1860–1940), German physician, biologist, Social Darwinist, and eugenicist
Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann (1801–1877), German physiologist, anatomist, and philosopher
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist
Alfred Wegener (1880–1930), German earth and weather scientist

Fictional characters[edit]

Alfred, alchemist and playable character in Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
Alfred, Sartan character from the novel Dragon Wing and other books of The Death Gate Cycle
Alfred, nickname of the nature spirit Demonreach, a minor character in The Dresden Files
Alfred, character in the video game series Fatal Fury
Alfred, a playable character in the video game Fire Emblem Engage
Alfred the Hot Water Bottle, from Australian children's television series Johnson and Friends
Alfred, major character, a penguin, in the Franco-Belgian comic strip Zig et Puce
Alfred Alembick, character from King Ottokar's Sceptre
Alfred Doolittle, father of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion and My Fair Lady
Alfred Hedgehog, main character of the French-Canadian animated TV series The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog
Alfred F. Jones, personification of the United States of America and leader of the Allied Powers in the anime Hetalia by Hidekaz Himaruya
Alfred J. Kwak, main character of the eponymous Dutch-Japanese anime television series
Alfred E. Neuman, mascot and iconic cover boy of Mad magazine
Alfred Pennyworth, butler to DC Comics superhero Batman

Other[edit]

Alfred of Sareshel (12th–13th century), English translator
Alfred of Sherborne (10th century), English bishop
Alfred Francis (before 1909-after 1919), Welsh rugby player
Sir Alfred Mehran (1946–2022), birth name Mehran Karimi Nasseri, Iranian refugee
Alferd Packer (1842–1907), American cannibal
Alfred Westou, (11th century), English priest and relic collector
Alfred Worden (1932–2020), American astronaut, business executive, and author

Surname[edit]

Mike Alfred, a South African poet

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (1991). "Alfred". Oxford Dictionary of First Names (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1. Retrieved 3 September 2022 – via Internet Archive.
^ Campbell, Mike. "Meaning, origin and history of the name Alfred". Behind the Name. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
^ Nancy L. Coleman; Olav Veka (2010). A Handbook of Scandinavian Names. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780299248338.

[Oxford_First_Names-1] Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (1991). "Alfred". Oxford Dictionary of First Names (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1. Retrieved 3 September 2022 – via Internet Archive.

[Behind_the_Name-2] Campbell, Mike. "Meaning, origin and history of the name Alfred". Behind the Name. Retrieved 2018-12-03.

[3] Nancy L. Coleman; Olav Veka (2010). A Handbook of Scandinavian Names. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780299248338.

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