Meanings
- A male given name from Old English.
You give a kid a name like Cameron / or Alfred, or something like that, / and they end up wearing glasses / and looking at computers for the rest of their life.
1998, Steven Herrick, A Place Like This (fiction), University of Queensland Press, →ISBN, page 861 more example
Unfortunately for me my father had combined diplomacy with a study of Anglo-Saxon history and, of course with my mother's consent, he gave me the name of Alfred, one of his heroes ( I believe she had boggled at Aelfred ). This Christian name, for some inexplicable reason, had become corrupted in the eyes of our middle-class world; it belonged exclusively now to the working class and was usually abbreviated to Alf. Perhaps that was why Doctor Fisher, the inventor of Dentophil Bouquet, never called me anything but Jones, even after I married his daughter.
1980, Graham Greene, Doctor Fisher of Geneva, or the Bomb Party (fiction), →OCLC - rareA surname originating as a patronymic.
- A place in the United States:
- A town, the county seat of York County, Maine.
- A town and village therein, in Allegany County, New York.
- A community in Alfred and Plantagenet township, Ontario, Canada.
Origin
- Old EnglishÆlfrǣd
- Middle EnglishAlfred
- EnglishAlfred
From Middle English Alfred, from Old English Ælfrǣd, from ælf (“elf”) + rǣd (“counsel”). Doublet of Alfredo and Avery. Equivalent to elf + rede. The modern pronunciation with /f/ is a spelling pronunciation; the name in Old English was pronounced with [v], as shown in its Middle English descendant Alured (in which u stands for modern v).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bengali আলফ্রেড
- আলফ্রেড (alophreḍ)Male given name
Catalan Alfred
- AlfredMale given name
Chinese Mandarin 阿爾弗雷德 /阿尔弗雷德, 艾爾弗雷德 /艾尔弗雷德
- 阿爾弗雷德 /阿尔弗雷德 (Ā'ěrfúléidé)Male given name
- 艾爾弗雷德 /艾尔弗雷德 (Ài'ěrfúléidé)Male given name
- 艾佛瑞 (Àifúruì)Male given name
Danish Alfred
- AlfredMale given name
Dutch Alfred
- AlfredMale given name
Esperanto Alfredo
- AlfredoMale given name
French Alfred
- AlfredMale given name
German Alfred
- AlfredMale given name
Greek Αλφρέδος
- Αλφρέδος (Alfrédos)Male given name
Icelandic Alfreð
- AlfreðMale given name
Irish Ailfrid
- AilfridMale given name
Italian Alfredo
- AlfredoMale given name
Latin Alfredus
- AlfredusMale given name
Latvian Alfrēds
- AlfrēdsMale given name
Norwegian Alfred
- AlfredMale given name
Persian آلفرد
- آلفرد ('Âlfered)Male given name
Portuguese Alfredo
- AlfredoMale given name
Russian А́льфред, Альфре́д
- А́льфред (Álʹfred)Male given name
- Альфре́д (Alʹfréd)Male given name
- А́лфред (Álfred)Male given name
Slovak Alfréd
- AlfrédMale given name
Spanish Alfredo
- AlfredoMale given name
Swedish Alfred
- AlfredMale given name
Welsh Alffred
- AlffredMale given name
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Alfred. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Alfred
“Alfred.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Alfred. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Alfred,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Alfred.
Source: Alfred on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.