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.
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)

Given name

Royalty and politicians

• Alfred the Great (848/849–899), 9th-century king of Wessex (871-886) and first King of the Anglo-Saxons (886-899)
• Alfred Ætheling (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 Balch (1785–1853), American businessman, lawyer, political advisor, and judge
• Alfred Bansard des Bois (1848–1920), French politician
• Alfred Winsor Brown (1885–1938), governor of Guam
• Alfred Budge (1868–1951), justice of the Idaho Supreme Court
• Alfred Burvill (fl. 1920s), 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 Josoa (born 1943), Malagasy politician
• Alfred Käärmann (1922–2010), Estonian freedom fighter
• Alfred John King (1859–1920), British politician
• Alfred Kollie (1951–2020), Liberian politician
• Alfred A. Lama (1899–1984), Italian-American architect and politician
• Alf Landon (1887–1987), American politician
• Alfred Lecerf (1948–2019), Belgian politician
• Alfred Lerandeau (born 1939), American 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 von Schlieffen (1833–1913), German field marshal and strategist
• Alfred Thambiayah (1903–unknown), Sri Lankan Tamil businessman and member of parliament

Writers and philosophers

• Alfred Bester (1913–1987), American science fiction author
• Alfred Döblin (1878–1957), German novelist, essayist, and doctor
• Alfred Jarry (1873–1907), French writer and founder of 'pataphysics
• Alfred Daniel Williams King (1930–1969), American minister and civil rights activist
• Alfred Kolleritsch (1931–2020), Austrian journalist, poet, writer and philosopher
• Alfred de Musset (1810–1857), French romantic poet and playwright
• 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 de Vigny (1797–1863), French romantic poet
• Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), English analytic philosopher and mathematician, co-author of Principia Mathematica

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 Cartier (1841-1925), French businessman and jeweller, second generation heir of the jewelry house Cartier
• 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 Peet (1920-2007), Dutch-American founder of Peet's Coffee
• Alfred Pisani (born 1939), Maltese businessman and hotelier
• Alfred Douglas Price (1860–1921), African American businessperson and community leader
• Alfred de Rothschild (1842-1918), English banker, art collector and diplomat, director of the Bank of England, member of the Rothschild family
• Alfred Sung (born 1948), Canadian fashion designer and businessman

Artists and entertainers

• Alfred Biolek (1934–2021), German entertainer and television producer
• Alfred Brendel (1931–2025), Czech-born Austrian classical pianist, poet and essayist
• Alfred Buckham (1879–1956), British photographer
• Alfred Gerald Caplin (1909–1979), American cartoonist and humorist better known as "Al Capp"
• Alfred Deller (1912–1979), English singer
• Alfred Edirimanne (1929–2000), Sri Lankan Sinhala cinema actor and politician
• Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898–1995), German-born American photographer and photojournalist
• Alfred Enoch (born 1988), British actor
• Alfred Hill (1924-1992), 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 following 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 Sully (1820–1879), U.S. Army Colonel and Union Army Brevet Brigadier General
• 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 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 Stillé (1813–1900), American physician
• Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann (1801–1877), German physiologist, anatomist, and philosopher
• Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist, who independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection
• 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 Garnett, lead character in the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part (1965–1975)
• 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
• Alfred Tezlaff, lead character in the German sitcom Ein Herz und eine Seele (1973–1976), based on Alfred Garnett
• Alfred, a localized name for Kazuma Kuwabara (see list of YuYu Hakusho characters), in the Tagalog dub of YuYu Hakusho (known in the Philippines as Ghost Fighter)

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
• Alfred 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