Alger

Boys' name

Noble + spear

Alger has been given to 832 babies in the U.S. since 1886. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1919, with 30 recorded.

Babies named Alger, 2008

1 in 786,000

Alger over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Alger: meaning, origin, and history

Noble + spear

Germanic languages

What Alger means

Alger means “noble + spear”, associated with aþal and gaiʀ.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

* As an English surname, when pronounced with a soft g, from the Middle English personal name Alger, borrowed from Old French Aug(i)er, of Germanic origin, from *Adalgari, composed of *aþal (“noble”) + *gaiʀ (“spear”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Alger (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Alger is used in English and Cebuano. Its origins include Germanic languages.

Alger comes through Old French Aug(i)er.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Elgar.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 832 boys were recorded with the name Alger between 1886 and 2008. Its highest annual count was 30 in 1919; its best national rank was #663 in 1898.

How common is Alger?

Alger had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2008, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2008: 1 in 786,000; 5 of 3,930,727 births
Among boys only: 1 in 408,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2008: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 544,916 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Alger sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2008 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 544,916 children born in 2008 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Alger. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Algers were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Alger was born before 1929 — so the typical Alger is around 96 today.

Median birth year: 1929; About 96 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 25.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 0.60%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 174; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 25.8% of all recorded uses (215).

Is Alger rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1919 (30)
Years since peak: 106; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 35.8% average annual change
Best rank ever: #663; 1898

Spellings of Alger

Alger is not the most common spelling — Walter is, with 22.4% against Alger's 0.03%.

Walter22.4%631,172
Albert17.4%491,861
Roger15.7%442,142
Alex10.1%286,169
Allen9.6%271,796
Angel9.4%265,886
Elmer4.6%129,591
Asher3.9%111,227

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Alger is used

Across 1910–2025, Alger was most concentrated in Michigan — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 49,024 across all states with data.

22 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Michigan1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Alger has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Alger by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #663; 1898
Peak year: 1919; 30 that year
First recorded: 1886
Last recorded: 2008
All-time count: 832
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Alger

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Jager Tiger Algie Tyger Jaeger Ruger Ranger Seger Rutger Edger Algis Algernon Dodger Granger Seager Ledger Trigger Algia Algot Danger Jagger Ridger Holger Algin

Sibling names for Alger

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Lovie Hortense Lue Theda Rubye Winnifred Johnie Norine

For a brother

Casimir Edd Ora Mahlon Verne Haywood Buck Wilber

Explore around Alger

Top names of 1919, Alger's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1898 Boys' names starting with A