Alfred (name)

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]

Statue in Wantage, England, of Alfred the Great, king of England from 871 to 899.
GenderMasculine
Name dayJanuary 3 (Sweden, Norway)
Origin
Language(s)English
Word/nameGermanic
MeaningFrom 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)

Given name

Royalty and politicians

  • 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

Athletes

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Mike Alfred, a South African poet

See also

  • Alfredo

References

  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.
  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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