Alfonso
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Meaning
traditionally 'noble and ready', Spanish and Italian form of Alphonsus
The story
Alfonso has been royal since the eighth century, when Alfonso I of Asturias opened a run of kings of Asturias, León, Castile, Aragon and Portugal that lasted into the twentieth. The textbook reading is "noble and ready," from the Visigothic Athalafuns, though the old Latin spellings hint the first element may once have been battle, and that two names may have merged somewhere on the road. Even the etymology has a dynastic marriage in it. The American record is the steady kind: nine straight decades, the 1920s through the 2000s, never fewer than 2,986 boys and never more than 5,201, with 1,424 more so far this decade. Brazil's 2022 census counts 1,595 residents with a median age of sixty, while the American columns keep filling with new arrivals. One name, one ocean, and two entirely different chapters of the same long book.
How popular is Alfonso around the world?
In the United States, 1,424 babies were named Alfonso between 2020 and 2025. In Spain, 77,574 residents are named Alfonso, the 57th most common name among men, with a mean age of 54.2 years.
Alfonso is on the official records of the United States, Spain, Montevideo, Chile, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, South Australia, England and Wales and Brazil.
United States
1 in 15,000
In the United States, 1,424 babies were named Alfonso between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Alfonso peaked in the 1990s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Alfonso has stayed between 1,424 and 5,207 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Spain
1 in 580
In Spain, 77,574 residents are named Alfonso, the 57th most common name among men, with a mean age of 54.2 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Montevideo City
1 in 7902011
In Montevideo, 31 boys named Alfonso were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Chile
1 in 1,200
In Chile, 143 boys were registered as Alfonso in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Mexico City City
1 in 1,400
In Mexico City, there were 85 registrations of Alfonso in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Argentina
1 in 2,000
In Argentina, 326 newborns were given the name Alfonso in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Puerto Rico
1 in 3,600
In Puerto Rico, 5 babies were named Alfonso in 2025, and 138 have carried the name since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
South Australia
1 in 18,0002017
In South Australia, 1 boy was registered as Alfonso in 2017.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
England and Wales
1 in 73,000
In England and Wales, 8 boys named Alfonso were born in 2025, ranked 2,664th among boys that year.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Brazil
1 in 120,000
At the 2022 census, 1,595 people in Brazil were named Alfonso, ranked 6,006th, with a median age of 60.
Among people named Alfonso living in Brazil at the 2022 census, roughly as many were born in the 1950s as in the 1960s, more than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 24 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Austria
last on record 2021
Alfonso is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Canada
last on record 2023
Alfonso is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
France
last on record 2023
Alfonso is not on the 2025 record for France, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Not on the record in Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Alfonso
People given the name Alfonso in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1960 to 2009. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
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The Alfonso deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Alfonso truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Alfonso fits with your family’s names and surname.
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