Alvar

Boys' name

Elf + army, through Alvar

Alvar has been given to 92 babies in the U.S. since 1914. 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 1917, with 15 recorded.

Babies named Alvar, 2015

1 in 617,000

Alvar 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Alvar: meaning, origin, and history

Elf + army, through Alvar

Old Norse

What Alvar means

Alvar belongs to the name family reached through Alvar → Alvar. Its meaning is “elf + army”.

Origin, language, and formation

Alvar is used in Cebuano, Estonian, Finnish and Swedish. Its origins include Old Norse.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Alvar.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Alvar is pronounced /ˈɑlʋɑr/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 92 boys were recorded with the name Alvar between 1914 and 2015. Its highest annual count was 15 in 1917; its best national rank was #1,869 in 1914.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Alvar?

Alvar had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2015, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2015: 1 in 617,000; 6 of 3,701,574 births
Among boys only: 1 in 319,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2015: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 427,624 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Alvar 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 2015 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 427,624 children born in 2015 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Alvar. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Alvars were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Alvar was born before 1918 — so the typical Alvar is around 107 today.

Median birth year: 1918; About 107 years old
Biggest decade: 1910s; 59.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 12.0%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 11; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1910s — 59.8% of all recorded uses (55).

Is Alvar 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 1917 (15)
Years since peak: 108; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 40.4% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,869; 1914

Spellings of Alvar

Alvar is not the most common spelling — Alan is, with 52.5% against Alvar's 0.01%.

Alan52.5%363,313
Alvin23.3%161,414
Allan13.9%96,458
Alvaro2.5%17,357
Alva1.6%11,269
Alvis0.75%5,206
Amar0.72%4,989
Alvie0.59%4,094

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.

Alvar around the world

Where Alvar ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
2012–2025
#5,137
in 2025
France
2022–2023
#6,713
in 2023
Norway
2024–2025
#246
in 2025

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Norway. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. SSB data under CC BY 4.0.

Alvar 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: #1,869; 1914
Peak year: 1917; 15 that year
First recorded: 1914
Last recorded: 2015
All-time count: 92
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Alvar

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

Alvey Alver Alvon Alvi Alvyn Alvern Alvia Alven Alvoid Alverto Alvy Zoravar Alve Alvarez Navar Tavar Alvord Alvan Alvion Alvonte Alvie Savar Devar Alvis

Sibling names for Alvar

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

Nelle Orpha Harriette Winnifred Maurine Johnie Dovie Lura

For a brother

Regis Meyer Rosario Lyman Winfield Dorsey Granville Isadore

Explore around Alvar

Top names of 1917, Alvar's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1914 Boys' names starting with A