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Alford vs Alfread

American parents have registered 4,795 Alfords since 1880, against 26 Alfreads. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Alford against Alfread, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Alford Alfread

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

Alford has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2019. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1928, when Alford had 94 and Alfread had 9.

Side by side

  Alford Alfread
Total US births 4,79526
Most in one year 1069
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 1,6002
Median age today 6789
Peak year 19301928
Best rank 582nd boys2,843rd boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18801928
Girls / boys 5 / 4,7900 / 26

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 Alfords are over 67. That is 22 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: Alford and Alfread.