Alfred is an Old English name from ælf, "elf", and ræd, "counsel", giving the meaning "elf counsel" or "wise counselor". Alfred the Great, the 9th-century king of Wessex, kept it alive through the Middle Ages, and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and Nobel founder Alfred Nobel carried it into modern times. In the United States Alfred was a top 50 name a century ago, stood at number 576 in 2000 and ranks number 840 among boys in 2025.