English

Proper noun

Alfred

1. Alfred the Great, early king of England
2. A male given name.
   • 1980 Graham Greene: Doctor Fisher of Geneva, or the Bomb Party

     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.

   • 1998 Steven Herrick, A Place Like This, Univ. of Queensland Press, ISBN 0702229849, page 86:

     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.

3. (rare) A patronymic surname​.

Related terms

• Alf, Alfie
• Alfreda

Translations

Anagrams

• fardel
• flared

Danish

Etymology

From English Alfred.

Proper noun

Alfred

1. A male given name.

References

• Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 21 194 males with the given name Alfred have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1900s decade. Accessed on 19 June 2011.

Faroese

Proper noun

Alfred m

1. A male given name

Usage notes

Patronymics

• son of Alfred: Alfredsson
• daughter of Alfred: Alfredsdóttir

Declension

Finnish

Proper noun

Alfred

1. A male given name.
2. Alfred Nussi

Declension

French

Etymology

From English Alfred.

Proper noun

Alfred

1. A male given name.
   • 1862 Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, Vol.1, Book 4:1, translation 1887 by Isabel F. Hapgood:

     Il n’est pas rare aujourd’hui que le garçon bouvier se nomme Arthur, Alfred ou Alphonse, et que le vicomte — s’il y a encore des vicomtes — se nomme Thomas, Pierre ou Jacques. Ce déplacement qui met le nom « élégant » sur le plébéien et le nom campagnard sur l’aristocrate n’est autre chose qu’un remous d’égalité. L’irrésistible pénétration du souffle nouveau est là comme en tout.

     It is not rare for the neatherd's boy nowadays to bear the name of Arthur, Alfred, or Alphonse, and for the vicomte--if there are still any vicomtes--to be called Thomas, Pierre, or Jacques. This displacement, which places the "elegant" name on the plebeian and the rustic name on the aristocrat, is nothing else than an eddy of equality. The irresistible penetration of the new inspiration is there as everywhere else.

German

Proper noun

Alfred

1. A male given name of English origin, fashionable in the 19th century.

Norman

Proper noun

Alfred m

1. A male given name, equivalent to English Alfred.

Norwegian

Proper noun

Alfred

1. A male given name of English origin.

Swedish

Proper noun

Alfred

1. A male given name of English origin, fashionable in the 19th century.